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GLIMPSES OF 



THE PEACE 



CONFERENCE. 



GLIMPSES 



OF THE 



PEACE CONFERENCE 



By EDITH CALLAHAN, 

Si>ecial Paris Correspondent of the Catholic Frees 
Association. 



PUBLISHERS. 

CATHOLIC MESSENGER PRESS. 

LOUISVILLE, KY. 



il\.^^ 



By Tranafer 

-^PR 3 i923 



Glimpses of the Peace Conference. 



THE CATHOUO PRESS ASSOCIATION OF 
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 

Office of the President 
CINCINNATI, OHIO. 

December 13th, 1918. 

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS : . . 

That I, Thomas P. Hart, President of *'The 
Catholic Press Association of the United States 
and Canada," reposing special confidence and 
trust in Edith Callahan, of Louisville, Ky., do 
hereby appoint the said Edith Callahan as the 
duly authorized staff representative of **The 
Catholic Press Association of the United States 
and Canada" at the Peace Conference to be 
held in France. Hereby authorizing the said 
Edith Callahan to do all things, which she may 
deem proper on behalf of said **The Catholic 
Press Association of the United States and Can- 
ada.*' Giving and granting to Said Edith Cal- 
lahan all the Powers and privileges, which I 
myself might exercise as staff representative at 
such conference. 

THOMAS P. HART, 
President. 



COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION, 
Washington, D. C, November 27, 1918. 

George Creel, Chairman 

The Secretary of State 
The Secretary of War 
The Secretary of the Navy 

TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AL- 
LIED GOVERNMENTS AND OTHERS 
WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

The bearer of this letter is officially accred* 
ited as a member of the United States Press 
Delegation, visiting Europe in connection with 
the Peace Conference and accompanying the 
party of the President. As such, she is com- 
mended to your consideration for such court- 
esy and assistance as you may be able to ex- 
tend her in the pursuance of her duties. 

This letter is issued to Edith Callahan of the 
Catholic Press Association. 

By authority and under the seal of the Uni- 
ted States Committee on Public Information. 

(Signed) GEORGE CREEL, 

Chairman. 



(From the Catholic Telegraph, January 9, 1919). 
Louisville Lady Represents Catholic Press As- 
sociation at Peace Conference. 

The Catholic Press Association of the United 
States and Canada has secured the services of 
Miss Edith Callahan, of Louisville, Ky., daugh- 
ter of Col. P. H. Callahan, who will represent 
the Association as its special correspondent at 
the Peace Conference in Paris. 

Miss Callahan sailed early in December, prop- 
erly accredited with letters from Dr. Thomas 
P. Hart, President of the Catholic Press Asso- 
ciation and George Creel, Chairman Committee 
on Public Information. 

Miss Callahan, who received all her early ed- 
ucation from the Sisters of Mercy in Louis- 
ville, has been attending the Comstock School 
of Music, New York, for several years, prepar- 
ing for a musical career. She has spent consid- 
erable time in Europe, and was overseas dur- 
ing August and September, 1914, while the 
mobilization of the opposing armies was going 
on, and the first battles of the world war were 
being fought. She accompanied her distin- 
guished father to Washington, when he went 
thither to establish and develop the Knights of 
Columbus War Work ; and she is thoroughly fa- 
miliar with the objects and purposes of those 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

activities. Consequently, she has the advan- 
tages of an experience, which few others pos- 
sess. 

There will necessarily be developments at 
the Peace Conference, with a more or less defin- 
ite relation to the interests of the Church, which 
might be underestimated, as to their news val- 
ue, by the ordinary secular writers; and the 
members of the Catholic Press Association are 
to be congratulated on securing as their cor- 
respondent a representative, from whom they 
may expect to receive information they might 
not obtain from any other source. 

Miss Callahan landed at Liverpool, England, 
on December 23. 



Glimpses of the Peace Conference. 

Letters Written From Europe to the Catholic 

Press Association of the United States 

and Canada — By Edith Callahan. 

T p IVERPOOL, Dec. 23.— We have just ar- 
I I rived here, and as I know you are eag- 
*^^ erly awaiting an account of our voy- 
age, I am mailing the enclosed letter 
at the very first opportunity. 

ON BOARD 

S. S. EMPRESS OF BRITAIN: — Ocean travel 
is not yet accommodated to peace con- 
ditions; the most war-like atmosphere 
prevails everywhere, in securing passports, pro- 
viding necessities for the voyage (convenien- 
ces are not to be thought of), and especially in 
the ship appointments and the personnel on 
board. It is quite interesting; altogether un- 
expected. I hurried on board to see what my 
cabin was like, then started off to say good-bye 
to my waiting friends, when a British officer 
informed me that I was on to stay ! 

Such simple wants as pen and ink are not 
to be filled. One may not send a telegram. I 
have no idea when Dr. Hart will receive this 
letter; we are not informed about the mails. 
Nearly all inquiries on board meet with a po- 
lite admonition to remember that we are trav- 
eling on a transport, which is quite unneces- 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

sary, for the poor boat is eloquent of that. 
With careful scrutiny one observes that it was 
once an elegant, palatial affair, but, like Wol- 
sey, it sighs a farewell to former greatness. 
Paintings and tapestries have given place to 
signs reading: ''Officers' Mess," ''Officers' Hos- 
pital Ward," etc. Once luxurious quarters are 
now stuffy compartments ; and everywhere are 
plain, white iron walls. 

But it is delightful ! One imagines the good 
ship bearing our gallant soldiers over, officered 
by brave, silent men; nosing its way through 
mine-infested waters, camouflaged by day and 
blank dark by night; for leagues and leagues 
a hunted thing! One can almost imagine that 
the great craft itself had some undefined sense 
of the service it was rendering to His Majesty 
and to the world. And how the ship's officers 
do love her! I am beginning to understand 
Admiral Beatty's high contempt for a com- 
mand, that, without a fight, could surrender an 
entire battle-fleet. 

^ "AND OTHERS." 

On board are "secretaries" of every varie- 
ty: K. of C, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., J. W. B., 
W. C. C. S., A. L. A., S. A. (the seven war- 
work agencies), and more besides. Then there 
are budding diplomats and specialists and ex- 
perts, anybody who could convince the pass- 
port authorities of his probable usefulness in 
one or another part of Europe. There are but 
few correspondents, most of them having sailed 
at a prior date, as the Catholic Press Associa- 
— 2 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

tion intended me to do, could I have managed 
it so. This way seems much better, however, 
as we are all just a little freer with each other 
in the exchange of tbose profound and weighty 
thoughts that you can imagine we are thinking. 
For already we have made peace and built 
a league of nations and determined the rights 
of peoples a dozen times over. We have settled 
all the problems of reconstruction, too, in var- 
ious ways, and have even disposed of the Ho- 
henzoUerns ; but just one way that. Somehow, 
though, we can not shoo off the Bolsheviki; 
they are such a pliable, elastic set, that we no 
faster eradicate them from one group than 
they spring up in another; and none, including 
themselves, ever seems to know where they are 
at. 

INTERESTING VARIETY OP OPINIONS. 



But, really, the opinions one hears on ship 
board in these times are very, very interesting. 
The Latin proverb about there being as many 
minds as there are heads, was never so striking- 
ly illustrated to me. Some views I hear are 
novel, some are informing, and some are truly 
illuminating. A few are alarming; and I am 
not one unaccustomed to so-called radical ut- 
terances, either. But these are different. 
There is a note of something more than mere 
protest in them. There is a Tower-of-Babel 
tone to them as though they originate in a pur- 
pose to do things in spite of Heaven's decrees. 
They set running a subtle current of thought, 
— 3 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

that, in spirit at least, seems to me not unlike 
the thoughts underlying what we understand as 
Kultur. 

BLiASPiHEMOUS EXTREMISTS. 

And I have been wondering how well on 
guard are we against this subtle influence, 
which gently suggests that the whole Christian 
edifice is a sham structure because our Lord 
came down from heaven instead of bringing 
heaven down with Him, a mistake that must be 
corrected at once — ^by compulsory means, if 
necessary. Happily, the expression of this pa- 
gan thought seem^ rare ; we can sincerely hope 
that the thought itself is likewise rare. 

These reflections have little to do with my 
mission to give the Catholic Press Association 
a report of the Peace Conference, with light on 
some of its innumerable angles touching Catho- 
lic ideas; but they crowded on me with such 
energy, when I began this letter, that I had 
to give them place. And besides, until I reach 
terra firma again and have a chance at the pa- 
pers, I am somewhat chary about airing the 
rather undigested opinion on various topics, 
that have been unfolded to me en route ; so will 
just pigeonhole them until I get '*in touch.** 

WIRELESS WORD OF WILSON. 

We learned by wireless today that President 
Wilson is to be in England probably during 
Christmas week; and, as the ** Empress of Brit- 
ain** should port before Christmas, I hope to 
have something of interest to relate in connec- 
tion with the hearty reception that he will, of 
— 4 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

course, be given. I can imagine him breaking 
all sorts of precedents — don't you know? — 
like the proverbial strong animal of the bovine 
kind, loose in a ten cent store. 

I shall myself be very much interested in 
** England Today," as it was my fortune (mis- 
fortune we then thought it) to be there in Au- 
gust, 1914, when the great conflagration began. 
Perhaps my next letter should be ** England 
Then and Now.'' 



*' Hands Across the Sea" Game While People 

Await Anxiously Outcome of Peace 

Conference 

L.^ ONDON, Dec. 30.— ''Tell me if England 
\ is much changed^ ' ' urges a friend in a 
^ letter just received from dear old U. S. 
I shall tell her: "Very much." The 
England of Christmas 1918, is far removed 
from the England of August, 1914. Not so 
much in the physical aspects, to be sure, al- 
though evidence that she has gone through aw- 
ful years of war is seen on all sides. The 
change in the old country is deeper, far deeper. 
It is a change of heart. It is a change of the 
people themselves, of their conventions, their 
traditions even, and their world outlook. I 
cannot quite describe the impression one gets 
from contact with the England of today. Presi- 
dent ¥^ilson summed it up beautifully in one 
of his characteristic phrases, spoken in the 
Gruildhall here: "There is a new tide running 
in the hearts of m.en, " he said; and all Eng- 
land has caught on to that phrase. How deep 
the tide, how wide ! Whether it will reach the 
shores of Ireland before it ebbs — well, my 
friend didn't ask me that much. 

THE OVATION TO WILSON. 

I shall always count it the most interesting 
opportunity of my life to have been here, when 
— 6 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

President Wilson was given that wonderful 
ovation on the day of his arrival, when two 
million people, staid, sober, unemotional Eng- 
lish people, acclaimed him loud and long, and 
again and again. One never felt so keenly the 
pride of being an American, as when this deep 
current of emotion set going the slow-moving 
English blood. For a moment the unbidden 
tears came; and I felt as one old and gray, as 
though centuries had intervened since that 
1914 August day, whose midnight hour was a 
signal for the Nations to start a grim crucifix- 
ion of their peoples. 

THE SINN FEIN SURPRISE. 

The result of the December election, the first 
since ''Ye olden tyme,'' four years ago, has 
just been announced. It had two surprises for 
these complacent islanders. First was the ex- 
traordinary showing of the Sinn Feiners, who 
captured seventy-two seats in the Parliament, 
one of them at the expense of John Dillon, who 
had succeeded Redmond as the Irish National 
leader. It is understood that the Sinn Feiners 
will not qualify for their places, which is a 
stand for Ireland's independence as opposed to 
Home Rule. 

At the time of the elections, a fortnight since, 
there was a general expectation that Irish in- 
dependence might form a topic for discussion at 
Versailles, and to insure that, every possible 
effort was put forth by its advocates. There ds 
now prevalent, however, and apparently grow- 
ing, a rather certain conviction that the Peace 
Congress will not hear of Ireland's indepen- 



aUMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

dence, if, indeed, it touches the Irish question at 
all. An ardent Irish sympathizer yesterday put 
it to me this way. "The Powers will probably 
render their verdict in a paraphrase of scrip- 
ture: 'The Irish ye have always.' '' 

LABOR'S LOSS AT ELECTION. 

The other surprise of the elections was the 
small number of seats secured by the Labor 
Party. It was generally conceded that Labor 
would win around a hundred seats; instead, it 
got ten. I hear different and conflicting con- 
clusions expressed as to what this "slump'* 
may be taken to indicate. A typical old Eng- 
lander sees in it the consoling assurance that 
there is scarcely a taint of Bolshevism here. 
The habitual *'under-dog" champion is not so 
sanguine; he refers to an old English law — of 
one of the Edwards, I believe, enacted after the 
Hundred Years War — that compelled laborers 
to work for wages fixed by magistrates in their 
districts, and warns against another exhibition 
of that unsympathetic spirit, which the returns 
indicate to him has by no means disappeared. 
PRIDE OF EMPIRE. 

I can imagine that both of these views are 
somewhat biased. The extreme popularity of 
Lloyd George, for awhile "sicklied o'er with a 
pale cast, ' ' was suddenly revived by his Brit- 
annia-Rules-the-Waves and Forty-Billion-In- 
demnity platform, and that seems in itself suffi- 
cient to account for Labor's disappointment. 
A great deal more centers in Lloyd George than 
the machinery of local Government. He 
is much more than the spokesman of a party. 
— 8 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

He seems the one hope of traditional England to 
establish at Versailles, alone or in conjunction 
with others, the basis of that commercial pre- 
eminence that is necessary to hold together the 
British Empire. And, set beside that issue, all 
others shrink in size and dwindle in import- 
ance; for British imperialists are not too sure 
of things in these times. They know the genesis 
of the Empire and the secret of her long sus- 
tained pre-eminence in the world; and, now 
that the use of force has been discredited and 
her power to control nations by controlling 
credit has been all but lost, they see future 
possibilities that are not altogether reassuring. 

THE OLD "HANDS ACROSS THE SEA." 

Whether or not this explains the frankly 
open advocacy of Lord Northcliffe for an alli- 
ance, commercially, politically and generally, 
between England and America, it is evident 
that the idea is not unpopular here, which it 
would likely be were not the old time sense 
of British security somewhat disturbed. 

One does not hear the matter discussed very 
much, it is true, and I suppose that is natural, 
considering that the English will be English; 
but there is a feeling abroad — a psychology, 
an instinct, if you please — that the coimsel to 
**make unto thyself friends'* is not one to be 
despised, when a people is forty odd billions in 
debt. 

This may pass, and quickly ; but in the mean- 
time they say that things are not getting back 
— 9—- 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

in gear for peace requirements as fast as was 
expected. 

They were going by the only precedent they 
had, the Napoleonic wars, which up to this war 
was the only period that ever tested to the ut- 
most the resources of the Empire, and they had 
not considered, and perhaps have not yet fully 
considered, in its bearing on industrial and 
trade relations, and in its final economic re- 
sults, the difference between breaking a block- 
ade, as in Napoleonic times, and maintaining 
one, as in bringing Germany to her knees. 

In this atmosphere of uncertainty and doubt, 
where gratitude and self-interest commingle, 
and pride of empire clings like a wet blanket, 
Mr. Wilson 's clear thought and lucid expression 
and frank counsel were as timely as they were 
welcome. He seems to have cleared up the sit- 
uation to a degree, but it still is muddy enough ; 
and the people here, even more perhaps than 
at home, anxiously await the outcome of the 
Conference, that, without thought of the bal- 
ance of power, and without the preponderance 
of any, will bring harmony to the family of na- 
tions and give peace to the world. 



Off for Paris ! Lack of Accommodations. Scs^r- 

city of Sugar and Coal. No Germans. Lots 

of Americans. Crippled Soldiers. 

IN ENaiiAND, 1914. IN IRELAND. PRELATES' 
APPEAL TO PEOPLE. THE INSPIRATION. 

T ^ ONDON, January 2, (1919).— We are off 
I \ witMn an hour, for Paris, the news- 
^-i center, heart-center of the world. But 
before bidding adieu to this *' small, 
provincial town," I must send you the greet- 
ings of the great New Year. Here is hoping 
that it may prove the happiest, the most blessed, 
of years in the life of any living or for a long, 
long time before. 

Then, too, I must write this letter at once in 
order to catch, by the one visible opportunity 
at hand, that Old Fellow with the Forelock, 
who, by the way, seems to get more sprightly 
with age, and is really quite gay these times; 
for, if the inconveniences of getting settled in 
Paris are anything like as many or as annoying 
as traveling in England, there is no telling 
when I may be disposed over there. No taxis, 
no porter, no handy-man ! My poor arms aohe 
with lugging aroundTny bags. Everywhere it 
is difficult to secure accommodations when one 
arrives, and impossible to reserve them in ad- 
— 11 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

vance. People are sleeping in the stations, 
things are so crowded. Thus Liverpool and 
London; one can but imagine Paris. 

SCARCITY OF SUGAR AND COAL. 

Especially at the hotels is one constantly re- 
minded that we are in the aftermath of war — 
it might well be in the midst of war, for that 
matter. It isn't a case of one lump or one 
spoonful of sugar, for instance, but none in any 
form. Candy shops hold out an inviting, false 
lure, for the doors are closed and sealed. (Com- 
ing over, the Englishmen on our steamer were 
bringing back huge baskets of sweets, which 
they guarded as a woman might her jewels). 
And as for coal, I hear they are preserving 
a few small lumps under a glass case in the 
British Museum. The temperature of my room 
is so frigid I can scarcely write. 

Another noticeable thing about the hotels 
is their waiters. Before the war it was no un- 
common sight to see German waiters all around. 
The Hotel Cecil, where mother and I were while 
here during August, 1914, had a head waiter 
who was German; and one fine morning very 
soon after August 4, he did not show up, hav- 
ing, no doubt, gone, like a dutiful citizen to re- 
port to his German overlord. Of course, there 
are no Germans "around loose" anywhere in 
England now. 

LOTS OF AMERICANS. 

Listead, there are Americans, lots of them; 
mostly soldiers, but, others also, especially 
— 12 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

women — ^nurses, secretaries and the like — all 
busy and helpful, for they are needed. The 
women seem to "take" Avith the English just 
a little better than the men. I was struck by 
the difference when two lonely chaps — one 
from Virginia ; and one from Mason City, Iowa 
— came on the first day to see us. They talked 
and talked and talked, just bubbling with glad- 
ness to be with some Americans. They had not 
"hit it off" with their British friends, it 
seemed. But they were lonesome. 

I see many of our poor soldiers, who are 
minus a leg or an arm; some are blind, and 
others maimed and disfigured. (You know 
they have one of the biggest American hospit- 
als here, and several camps) ; and how I wished 
they could be home to begin their occupational 
training like those who have already returned 
crippled. It would cheer their hearts. They 
may know the encouragement that is waiting 
for them; but that is not like feeling its help. 

THE REALIZATION OF WAR. 

On the whole this is the most realistic atmos- 
phere of war that I have seen ; and I can easily 
imagine the terrible thing still going on. I 
know this is nothing, merely nothing, to poor 
Belgium and France ; but it is enough to make 
one with half a heart wish to pray that it can 
never happen again. And I noticed at mid- 
night Mass on Christmas, and again on Sunday 
and New Years, that the Pope's Peace Prayer 
seemed to be said with a strangely deep emo- 
tion, for England. 

— 13 — 



GLIMP8E8 OF TEE PEACE CONFERENCE 
1914. 

I recall being at Victoria Station, back in 
those first days, when the first 150,000 English 
soldiers — ^'England's contemptible little army'* 
one of the German officers dubbed them; they 
are the *' Immortal Contemptibles " now — ^were 
being mobilized. And they had such a grim, 
istolid, bull-doggish, back-teeth-set look about 
them, that one wondered if a people like them 
could ever feel emotion. 

A few days later we were over in Dublin, 
mother and I ; and, of course, mobilization was 
going on there, too. But what a striking con- 
trast! Their laughing and singing and shout- 
ing kept up a merry din; they all looked and 
acted as if they were out to have the frolic of 
their lives; and, thinking of what Lord Kitch- 
ener had said about three years of war, I won- 
dered if we ^'Irrepressible Irish" would ever 
take anything seriously. But I suppose in na- 
ture we are all akin; and certainly, the nearer 
I come to the fields where the heart of the 
whole world was searched and tried, the more 
I can realize that the war touched nature very 
profoundly, bringing to the surface the deep- 
hidden traits of men and making them feel 
their kinship. 

PRELATES' APPEAl. TO PEOPLE. 

While reminiscencing, I wish to mention an- 
other reflection that came to me here in London 
during those dies irae of 1914. We were at 
Westminster, attending Mass, when Cardinal 
— 14 — 



eLIMP8E8 OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

Bourne preached. I do not recall his text, but 
shall never forget his sermon. He spoke on 
patriotism, reminding Catholics of their duty 
to give everything to their country, stressing 
loyalty as a moral and religious no less than 
a civic virtue, which Catholics ought to be fore- 
most in exhibiting by being the first to offer 
their all to their country in her hour of peril. 
And my reflection was: If our country should 
go to war against another country, will our 
Cardinals give such a lead and summon the 
Catholic people of America to their duty with 
the same authoritative voice and in the same 
energetic manner. I knew, of course, they 
would teach the same Catholic doctrine of loy- 
alty and surrender of life and all to country; 
but would they sound the clarion call, that 
would fill the ranks of our armies with Catholic 
boys, marching to the battle-fields with the 
same fervor with which they would set out 
upon a crusade? 

I have no doubt that Cardinal Bourne's 
sermon, with others of its kind, repeated again 
and again from every Catholic pulpit and altar 
in England, was one of the most powerful fac- 
tors in bringing the people of England to that 
sense of the nation's right to claim their sacri- 
fice unto the uttermost, which afterward in 
their darkest hour never for a moment failed 
them; and I have less than a woman's wit, if 
the future historian, when he describes the 
moral forces, that came in the end to prevail, 
does not count the sermons of Cardinals Gib- 
bons, Farley and 'Connell, delivered on East- 
er, 1917, and the manifesto of the Archbishops 
— 15 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

of the United States drawn a few days later, 
as the final summoning of the spiritual resour- 
ces of the world to put Might under the heel 
of Justice. 

THE INSPIRATION. 

And, what a crown-piece! Pope Benedict's 
Peace Message becomes the inspiration of those 
principles, that make our President welcome 
as the people's spokesman in every land, even 
the land of former enemies! 



Paris Today. French Nationalism Vital. The 

"Bread Line." War Not All Glory. 

' ' Our Boys ' ' Seem Happy. 

AT THE MADELEINE. FRANCE IS SERIOUS. 
RELiaiON KINDLED ANEW. 

P?V ARIS, Jan. 5. — At last, here! And very 
w^ comfortably, if not amply, disposed in 
*-« a rather small but select hotel, that is 

distinctly home-like and quiet — the 
MacMahon Palace, just around the comer from 
the Arch of Triumph on the Champs, and what 
we would call a family hotel in America. Any- 
thing like the Continental or the Ritz, centei^ 
for various kinds of "headquarters" and the 
Mecca of reporters and correspondents, is im- 
possibly crowded; and we were decidedly in 
luck to secure accommodations in a place at 
once charming and convenient. 

Really, I have a notion, that, apart from the 
restful surroundings that I will be more and 
more happy to enjoy in the months to come, 
there are quite distinct advantages for a cor- 
respondent to be ''quartered" in a place such 
as this, where there are hardly any others be- 
sides French families ; for I hope to secure from 
them, when we begin to get acquainted, an ex- 
pression of viewpoint and opinion, that it is 
impossible to secure from public men, and 
— 17 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

which will give an insight to things hardly oth- 
erwise obtainable. 

FRENCH NATIONALISM VITAL. 

For the French, of course, are old, and they 
have many traditions, that illuminate and make 
vivid their history, making it much more real 
to them than it is to those who know it merely 
as history. The occurrences of that other peace 
conference, of a hundred years ago, for in- 
stance, is mere history to me ; but these French 
have a way of feeling as if they were living 
then : just as we in America feel as if we knew 
Lincoln or Jackson or Webster or Clay, or even 
Washington and Jefferson and all who played 
great roles in the making of our country. I 
have always associated the first Napoleon with 
Alexander the Great, in a sort of mental per- 
spective, as outstanding figures of the histori- 
cal past ; but the French never think of any one 
in connection with the Little Corporal. Alex- 
ander or Haninbal or Scipio may be historical 
characters to them, but the First Emperor is an 
intimate, vivid part of their national life. 
TO SOUND THE DEPTHS. 

And, of course, the public men of France 
feel this national psychology, if I may call it 
so, in a quite profound sense, only they have 
not the leisure to express it, to portray it, to 
draw out, by anecdote or in reminiscent narra- 
tive, the different shades and reflexes, that pic- 
ture the panorama of tradition running in their 
minds. That is just what I hope to get at least 
some glimpse of in these quiet surroundings, 
and what I never could hope for where the 
crowds rush in. 

— 18 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

Already the cob-webs are brushed off my 
French, as I have spoken nothing else for two 
days; which was rather trying at first, after 
virtually a complete disuse of four years, but 
is less exciting now. 

THE "BREAD LINE." 

"We came over the Southampton way — the 
Dover to Calais passage being still closed, — 
which brought us into Paris in the late evening. 
And, Oh ! the multitude of people ! Everywhere 
crowds and crowds; jabbering and gesticulat- 
ing with what seemed like crazy energy, and 
as if a revolution might break out on an im- 
pulse. 

I understood soon afterward, when I, too, 
had to go out to a ticket-for-bread bureau, 
where over four hundred were ahead of me, 
waiting for the same thing, sugar, the scarcest 
article, I do believe, in all Europe. I have not 
had a taste in any form since landing in Liver- 
pool. After visiting all the police and military 
bureaus in Paris, I think, and riding in every 
hot and stuffy subway of the city, I have been 
ordered to be in line at eight-thirty in the 
morning, when, if I am good, and ready to 
swear my life away, I may get eight ponderous 
ounces of sugar, which must suffice me thirty 
days. 

CAPTURED GERMAN CANNON. 

The streets are studded with captured Ger- 
man cannon, lined is more literally correct. 
There are hundreds of them. Place de la Con- 
corde is filled with them, and both sidewalks 
— 19 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENOS 

from Concorde all the way to the *Arc.' They 
are all cleverly camouflaged, and present an 
unusual and picturesque scene in their setting. 
It is all very fine and glorious and my native 
ancestral memories sent the blood atingling at 
the sight, till I looked at the men around. 

Splendid men they are, with blood in. their 
bearing, and a strong, patient look in their 
eyes-y but — on crutches or without arms! Our 
own boys are among them, of course ; and there 
are some like that whom I know ; whose sisters 
and sweethearts I know back home ! Somehow 
the tingle died out of my blood; and I shall 
never look upon a captured cannon again, with- 
out seeing in the background a crutch or an 
empty sleeve. 

"OUR BOYS" SEEM HAPPY. 

But *'Our Boys" seem happy over here; that 
is, as nearly as they could be away from home, 
for they never lived in the shadow of a great 
national fear that some day they or their chil- 
dren would have to hie away to some distant 
country for lack of room in the land of their 
birth, and so they have a deeper home-feeling 
than most other men. But there is a good spir- 
it shown them here, a natural and spontaneous 
welcome, which breaks down the barriers of an 
unknown language, and makes itself evident m 
gesture and tone. It is nothing unusual to see 
French and American soldiers walking along, 
not arm in arm, but with arms around each 
other. And our men will stand about the streets 
all day, and talk with the little French girls—- 
— 20 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

mostly with their hands. It is surprising, 
though quite remarkable, how much of the lan- 
guage they have picked up, and with what good 
accent. 

AT THE MADELEINE. 

We were at the Madeleine today, and I re- 
mained for three Masses — ^not that I am so 
pious as all that, but I wished so much to see 
the crowds and judge, if I could, for myself, 
whether *' Catholic France" has any deeper 
meaning here in Paris now than before the war. 
But I could hardly judge. The attendance is 
some larger, not much; but I do not overlook 
that the Madeleine and Notre Dame were near- 
ly always crowded before, for these two places 
are something more than churches to the Pari- 
sians : they are institutions. 1 notice, however, 
a much larger proportion of men now than 
formerly; but how many of them are not 
French, one could not say, when the city is filled 
with visitors from all the world, not all of 
whom go to the Madeleine to worship or to 
pray. 

FRANCE IS SERIOUS. 

France is serious, of course, for her women 
mourn their dead, seem fairly to hold dear their 
deep, black veils ; but France was serious after 
Waterloo, when Louis declared that she was 
Catholic, although they say that in Paris alone 
Voltaire's works went through twelve editions 
in the following five years. And France, or at 
least Paris, is still confronted with a great 
fear, a fear of the Bolsheviki. Russia and Aus- 
tria and Germany are not so far from them as 
— 21 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

they are from us in America ; and I am begin- 
ning to understand that the nearness makes a 
difference. 

RELIGION KINDLED ANEW. 

Still, there is something undefinable in the 
air, the same as I noticed at Westminster, a kind 
of spiritual fervor, that was not here before. I 
would say, if the distinction has any meaning, 
that religion has been kindled anew in the 
hearts of the French people (which of course 
means the Catholic religion, as they are prov- 
erbially Catholic or nothing) ; but, until their 
mingled emotions of triumph and sorrow and 
uneasy foreboding are composed, there is no 
way of judging whether or not abiding faith 
has taken possession of their souls. 



Place de la Concorde Recalls Incident of 1914. 

K. 0. Secretary Tells of Paris After 

the Armistice Was Signed. 

DEEP INTEREST IN PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

VISIT TO ROME. COURTESY OF 

MR. CREEL. 

ip^ ARIS, Jan. 10. — ^Around the Place de la 
Ki/ Concorde — originally called Place 
1^ Louis XV, after the monarch who de- 

signed it, and later Place de la Revo- 
lution, because that terrible guillotine, which 
ended the career of Louis XVI, was set up in 
the center, where the Luxor Obelisk now 
stands — are eight pavilions, erected in the eigh- 
teenth century, under which, arranged in pairs, 
are beautiful statues, representing the princi- 
pal cities of France : Lyon and Marseilles, Bor- 
deaux and Nantes, Rouen and Bluest, Lille and 
Strassburg. After 1870, the statue of Strass- 
burg was draped in mourning, if not constant- 
ly, at least on every patriotic festival or cele- 
bration ; and the guides of Paris, who were reg- 
ularly licensed and enjoyed a sort of profes- 
sional status before the war, were all instructed 
to give the same answer to tourists, who in- 
quired the meaning of that sign of gloom. 
AN INCIDENT OF 1914. 

So it happened in 1914, while we were being 
shown around the city in the usual formal way, 
— 23 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE GONFERENOE 

ft member of our party, a big, breezy Western- 
er, who had just finished a post-graduate course 
somewhere in Germany, asked the guide the 
reason for that ^* veiled statue of the Strass- 
burg. * * 

True to his training, the natty little follow 
stiffened up as might a soldier coming to atten- 
tion, and in a voice filled with emotion, replied : 
*' Forty-four years ago. Monsieur, that city, 
with the whole of Alsace-Lorraine, was stolen 
from us by Germany. We mourn its loss, and 
will drape the statue until we win it back, 
which we think to do.'^ 

The rejoinder of the American was typical: 
*'Well, old man," he said, '*I guess you've an- 
other think coming. ' ' 

That same jovial western lad fought in the 
Argonne last year ; and the guide, if he is liv- 
ing, is, of course, a seasoned veteran now. I 
should like to see them meet again, on the Place 
ffle la Concorde, where the statue of Strassburg 
fis now draped in the Tricolor, and stands fac- 
^llig the Stars and Stripes. 

MEETS K. C. SECRETARY. 

Yesterday, I was very happy to run across 
a K. C. secretary from Louisville. He was 
much interested, naturally, to hear about things 
back home, but soon forgot himself in relating 
to me his wonderful experiences over here. I 
wish it were so I could reproduce the vivid im- 
pression he made, especially when he touched 
upon the havoc and ruin of northern France, 
the suffering of the peasants there and their ut- 
ter dismay as they looked into the gloomy 
— 24-— 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

prospects before them. But I must confine my- 
self to repeating Ms narrative about Paris. He 
was here when the armistice was signed. 

WHEN THE ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED. 

''I shall never forget the wild demonstration 
that occurred that night," he said; ''the 
French people went wild ; their excitement and 
joy can not be imagined; the whole thing beg- 
gars description. It was as if the suppression 
of a people 's emotion for four years and three 
months had reacted in a sudden and sponta- 
neous rebound, that let loose in a burst all of 
their accumulated and pent-up feeling. The 
French ran through the streets crying ; the girls 
and women were, perhaps, more wrought up 
than the men. Every American soldier, that 
appeared on the streets, had two or three 
French girls clinging to him, kissing him and 
singing the grand old Stars and Stripes for- 
ever. The celebration continued for the whole 
week, ending with a monster parade on Sunday. 
The parade began at the Arch of Triumph and 
proceeded along the Champs to the Concorde, 
where it was received by the President of 
France and the French Army officers. ' ' 

AT NOTRE DAME. 

"But the grandest celebration of all," contin- 
ued my new found friend, ''was the one at No- 
tre Dame, where the ' Te Deum ' was chanted by 
a vast assemblage at solemn high Mass, sung in 
celebration of the American and Allied victory. 
That was the most impressive scene I ever wit- 
nessed. The old Cathedral was filled to the 
— 25 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

doors ; and there were literally thousands on the 
outside, who could not press their way in. 
There were crowds on the roof even, looking 
through the openings available there. You 
know the seating capacity of Notre Dame is 
over twelve thousand. Well, that was filled, 
and the aisles were filled, and the windows and 
tops of chapels and confessionals, everything. 
And when this vast multitude joined in singing 
the 'Te Deum,^ amid the thunderous peals of 
the great organ, I tell you it was inspiring. I 
could almost imagine I heard the hosts of Heav- 
en, as they joined in angelic chorus that night 
in Judea.'' 

AT THE MADELEINE. 

There is so much more of his story that I 
would like to tell. He was at the Madeleine 
later, on Thanksgiving day, when Cardinal 
Bourne was there, and Cardinal Mercier, that 
grandest of men, whom the French revere and 
love as I suppose the citizens of Rome must 
have loved St. Leo for turning Attila away 
from their gate^, only the Cardinal had a much 
harder time of it than the Pope, having some- 
thing more than a barbarian to resist. 

The Madeleine celebration came the nearest 
to receiving official recognition of any religious 
service in many years. The Corps Diplomat- 
ique was present, and Madame Poncaire, with 
many deputies — ^not quite a technical recogni- 
tion by the Government of an overruling Provi- 
dence, but what a difference from even the un- 
official attitude of a few years ago ! My K. C. 
friend was decidedly of the opinion that France 
— 26 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

is Catholic through and through. It would nob 
be strange. 

PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO ROME. 

There was a sharp and deep interest felt- 
here in connection with President Wilson's visit 
to Rome, whether he would visit the Pope, 
Archbishop Cerretti's conference with the Pres- 
ident a few days before added greatly to the- 
interest, and somewhat to the speculations in- 
dulged. It was a keen relief to all that the 
outcome was so happy. The Papal Under Sec- 
retary of State went on his way, the President- 
paid his respects to the Holy Father, and every- 
body seems satisfied. It has muffled all talk 
here about the Powers undertaking to deter- 
mine or fix the Pope's international status, 
which appears now to be generally accepted as 
both determined and fixed by the Pope himself. 
It has served^to quiet, also, the more or less in- 
sistent claim on the part of many Catholics, 
not of France alone but generally, that the 
Pope should have some voice in the AVorld Con- 
ference. This was not so frequently expressed 
in a public way, perhaps, but it was keenly 
felt, and quite easily discovered, when one ven- 
tured to open the subject, the basis of it being, 
''that most of the points, set out by the Ameri- 
can President and which would be the progr^im 
of the deliberations, had been originally sug- 
gested by the Pope ; and, therefore, not to men- 
tion the assistance he might give in their inter- 
pretation, it was only gracious to have him rep- 
resented. ' ' 

One can easily see, at least after the event, 
— 27 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

how the President's visit to the Pope, with their 
brief conference together, leaves that matter 
satisfactorily settled, so far as the Pope is con- 
cerned. Thus the French are being treated 
Avith instances, that show President Wilson's 
rare gift of seeing before the event how such 
things work out. 

COURTESY OF MR. CREEL. 

Oh, yes! I was about forgetting the Confer- 
ence itself. Well, along with the many rights 
that she is gaining these days, I suppose it still 
is a woman's privilege to put the most import- 
ant matter in a postscript. The Conference has 
been scheduled at three different times to open 
on a fixed day, and each time postponed. Mr. 
Creel, head of the American Publicity Bureau, 
and from whom all American correspondents 
receive their credentials, as it were, along with 
most of their information and together with 
much other assistance, affords me every facility 
possible. Mrs. Millar, of the National Catholic 
War Council, who made a trip over here for 
them last summer and took back over a hun- 
dred French girls to be put in our colleges on 
free scholarships, and who accompanied me 
from New York on this trip, knew Mr. Creel in 
Denver, before the war ; and he and my father 
were rather close friends in Washington during 
the war, so I had a splendid entree to start v/ith. 
He has shown me much kindness, and, while 
a little hasty in manner, is most helpful; and 
my connection in this respect should prove of 
great service to me in my mission. 
— 28 — 



Diplomatic Relations Between France and the 
Vatican. 

ARIS, Jan. 17.— Tomorrow, the Peace 
Conference! the great Congress of the 
World! the beginning of the last chap- 
ter in the history of the last war ! 
It hardly seems possible, even now, that the 
principal rulers of the earth, the heads of Re- 
publics, Kingdoms and Empires, of Provinces, 
States, Dominions, Satrapies, Commonwealths, 
— new-born nations, that still struggle with 
their swaddling clothes, ancient peoples, that 
writhe in the throes of dissolution and death, — 
all will assemble in solemn conclave to deliber- 
ate upon the form and character of future civil- 
ization and peaceful methods of feeding and 
governing the whole world! Tomorrow, just 
a few minutes' ride from where I am writing 
these lines ! 

EXPECTANT ATMOSPHERE. 

Had I but immediately arrived, and none had 
informed me, I believe I should know that 
something of tremendous import is about to oc- 
cur, something which everyone feels is quite 
unlike anything that has ever before occurred. 
The atmosphere is charged with expectancy; 
the very air seems sensitive; a deep, solemn 
mood has lowered over the city ; everything is 
tense. It is not so much my own feelings, for, 
considering it all,— the world plans and world 
— 29 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

leaders and world events, and obscure little 
me prodding about in their midst, — I am shame- 
fully unexcited about it, as if it might be more 
artificial than real, splendid and glorious as it 
is. But it is the impressions forced upon me by 
the surroundings — the calm of a people, that 
ordinarily is all emotion; the quiet of a city, 
that usually is all activity ; the solemn anxious- 
ness prevailing, instead of that care-free cor- 
dial gaiety, for which Paris is so much cen- 
sured and so much loved, — as if France and the 
world had been waiting, waiting, waiting not a 
few weeks, but always, just for Tomorrow ! 

I verily believe the people here would not be 
much astonished, if something altogether mir- 
aculous were to signalize the assembling of the 
Powers, with President Wilson at their head. 
Involuntarily, one recalls the auguries, that 
legend if not history connects with epochal 
occurrences of the past ; how many run through 
the narratives of Caesar's death! or the massa- 
cre of the Marmadukes! They chase one an- 
other through the corridors of memory tonight ; 
for tomorrow, not Rome, not Egypt, but the 
World will be born again ! 

NOTE OF DISAPPOINTMENT. 

There is but one note of disappointment that 
I can hear. It is accepted as rather certain 
that the League of Nations is assured ; that the 
balance of power and policy is doomed; that 
Great Britain, France, Italy and, of course, the 
lesser powers, will agree upon the famous four- 
teen points formulated by Mr. Wilson, with 
very little modification; that responsibility for 
-—30 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

the war will be properly fixed (as though it 
were not already) and punishment inflicted; 
that in some way, not apparent, Bolshevism 
will be checked, order will be restored, repara- 
tion will be made and the world in general will 
be so renovated, that the long-suffering people 
can enjoy a lasting peace; and Kings, if they 
wish to make war, must employ manikins. 

The disappointing note one hears is 
that the Conference, which is to do all 
this, will begin without giving any 
visible token that the blessing of 
Heaven is desired on its work. Only today, an 
old Frenchman, whose two only sons sleep in 
the valley of the Marne, reminded me how 
Franklin, — whom the French seem to know 
quite as well and to reverence quite as much as 
Americans do, — introduced prayer into the de- 
liberations of our Constitutional Convention. 
"Your Washington was a man of prayer, too," 
he added; "so was Lincoln, and so is President 
Wilson; and you know how Marshal Foch re- 
sorted to prayer, and asked the people to pray, 
especially the little children. ' ' He went on to 
tell me, with earnest and impressive fervor, how 
the children of France offered their Holy Com- 
munions for The Cause; "and in England," he 
said; "and over in your own great country, as 
you know, there was a child-prayer movement, 
if I do not exaggerate, especially among Catho- 
lics. I tell you we were saved with prayer!" 

WILL COME OUT ALL RIGHT. 

My friend saw the difficulties, however, of 
any other course for the Congress than that 
— 31 — 



i GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

arranged, since it is assembling in a country 
where the Government has not yet officially 
recognized God; and he dismissed the subject 
with a very thoughtful remark, which I must 
repeat. ''After all,'' he said cheerfully, ''I 
suppose it will come out right. At one time I 
thought we would never win the war unless the 
Government of France, like her people, went 
down on its knees to Heaven; but we did, and 
now I wonder if the hon Dieu may not have 
willed it so, perhaps just to try the faith of 
persons like me. And so," he concluded, ** al- 
though I could very heartily wish that this 
Congress, which proposes in a way to reform 
the world, would at least acknowledge the Crea- 
tor,nevertheless,I look forward hopefully to the 
issue, which He may ordain to be fruitful of 
great good, if for no other reason, just to try 
the faith of those who think He should visibly 
rebuke these earthly rulers for publicly ignor- 
ing Him." He left me with this thought; and, 
as its deep, penetrating light dawned on me, 
and I remembered the two little white crosses 
over the graves of this man's only sons, who lie 
out in the valley of the Mame, I could hear 
the words of the Gospel, spoken to the Centur- 
ion, whose servant lay sick with the palsy. 

FRANCE AND THE VATICAN. 

Yesterday was my day *'at home," meaning 
that I remained at the ''Palace," having a 
whole delightful day with some of my new- 
made friends, who are very kind to me and in 
every way most charming. Incidentally I 
learned from an unusually clever young ma- 



0LIMP8E8 OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

dame more than I can ever remember about 
diplomatic affairs, particularly in respect to 
France and the Vatican renewing their rela- 
tions, which is the object of a rather considera- 
ble and very earnest though quiet agitation that 
started soon after the war began. It had some- 
how been my impression that this movement 
was confined mostly, if not wholly, to Catholics, 
which, of course, would not be so strange, con- 
sidering that this is France. "But, no, in- 
deed!" exclaimed madame, when I told her my 
impression, "Why, Mr. Lazare Weiler is one 
of the most eloquent advocates for France re- 
newing relations with the Vatican; and he is 
an Israelite and a republican Deputy of the 
Left. Mr. Maurice Vernes is another, who is 
very prominent and very energetic in pleading 
for it; and he is a Protestant professor. And 
M. de Monzie is a radical Socialist Deputy, a 
former Minister; he has published a book in 
support of the movement, giviag all the data 
and arguments in regard to our Protectorate in 
the East and our new responsibilities toward 
Alsace-Lorraine, which even the Government 
saw could not be satisfactorily met without 
renewal of relations with the Vatican, and, 
therefore, tacitly concurred in Sir Henry How- 
ard representing the Entente, although, per- 
haps, strictly speaking, he is accredited to Eng- 
land, — a peculiar and undignified relation for 
France, M. de Monzie says, as you will agree. ' ' 
"Who is this M. Ferdinand Buisson?" I 
enquired, as his name had come to me in con- 
nection with this diplomatic "restoration." 
"He is President of the League of the Rights of 
— 33—- 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE OONFERENOB 

Man, and not one to be left out when going 
over the able men, I may say statesmen, of 
France. His support of the proposed step is 
very frank and, also, very earnest. By the 
way, he recently gave out an interview, which 
you may not have noticed, comparing the Holy 
Father's proposals with President Wilson's 
points, and calling attention to the striking har- 
mony of these two voices lifted amidst the din 
of arms, one representing the most ancient, and 
the other the most modern of the great insti- 
tutions of the world." 

''And yet," I suggested, reverting to the dip- 
lomatic question, ''you cordially support the 
Oovernment." "5ie^*!" she exclaimed, "is it 
not a splendid Government, deserving, magnifi- 
cent! We cannot all see alike, you know; but 
we all remember that the Government saved 
France. And the Government has traditions, 
too ; they reach way back. Let me tell you — " 

But that is another story. 



The Great World Congress of Peace. 

Tr\ ARIS, Jan 19.— The opening of the Su- 
1-^ preme Peace Conference of the World 
-*-^ was, of course, the greatest event of 

my life. 

My formal appointment as representative of 
the Catholic Press Association of the United 
States and Canada has given me many prefer- 
ences; and on this occasion, when the dumber 
was quite limited, I found myself to be one of 
a privileged thirty in the Press Room. 

The Conference, as you have read in the daily 
papers, opened Saturday, January 18, at 3 p. 
m., in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the 
Quai d'Orsay. 

DREW AN IMMENSE CROWD. 

Long before the appointed hour an immense 
crowd had gathered outside, where some 
pressed their eager faces against the tall iron 
railings, and others — soldiers and sailors — 
swung into the tree tops to secure a point of 
vantage. Something lingered of the hushed,awed 
feeling of the day before, with all interest cen- 
tered in the arrival of the men, who hold in 
their keeping the future destinies of nations. 
Within the courtyard a company of French poi- 
lus stood waiting, while a wintry sun shone 
down on their blue-steel helmets and shining 
guns. 

— 36 — 



aUMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENOE 



MOVIES CA'DCH THE NOTABLES. 

Nothing spectacular marked the entrance of 
the different statesmen. Cameras and motion 
picture machines clicked busily, as they vied 
with one another to get the best view of Wood- 
row Wilson, when he smilingly walked up the 
steps; or of Lloyd Greorge, as he removed his 
hat, and briskly pushed through the door. The 
poilus stood at attention, and the crowds dis- 
played the greatest of enthusiasm, especially 
when President Wilson appeared. 

The Peace Delegates gathered in a great as- 
semblage room on the ground floor of the 
building, a very beautiful room of the old 
French style, with many windows looking out 
over the Seine, with ivory tinted walls ornately 
done in gold, and heavy red silks and velvets 
setting off the windows and the doors. From 
the center of the high ceilings, elegantly cut, 
massive glass chandeliers fall low over the 
Peace Ta'ble, which is horseshoe shaped, cov- 
ered with thick green felt, and, with the red 
leather chairs that sit on both sides, quite fills 
the room. 

AT THE TABLE. 

At the vertex of the arch of the table sat 
Monsieur Poincare. To his right was President 
Wilson, and on his left the members of the Brit- 
ish Mission. Promptly at three o'clock, the 
French President arose and gave his words of 
welcome, in French. His address was then 
translated and re-read in English. This was 
fpllowed by a short address by Mr Wilson, in 
English, which was translated and re-read in 
—.36 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

French. Mr. Wilson had nominated Clemen- 
ceau as President of the Conference. Mr. 
Lloyd George spoke briefly in support of this 
choice; and Clemenceau, being selected, made 
an eloquent speech, everything being transla- 
ted and re-read from French into English, or 
English into French. The meeting lasted one 
hour and thirty minutes. 

There was no ceremony in connection, first 
or last ; it was a brief, business-like procedure, 
with solemn dignity as the keynote, and every 
evidence of sincerity and simplicity of purpose 
manifest. It is obvious that the Powers have 
an earnest desire to conclude the Conference 
with all possible dispatch; consequently, no 
unnecessary formalities are indulged, and all 
ceremony is eliminated. 

IN THE PRESS ROOM. 

Immediately adjoining the assembly room, a 
smaller room was set apart for the members 
of the Press and a few guests. There was only 
a small number of persons here; but, as I 
heard various languages being spoken around 
me, I realized that the pulblic of the entire 
world had representation in these few journal- 
ists. Near me was a Russian woman. Doubt- 
less thinking of her own country, so deeply 
afflicted, she hungrily listened to the calm, 
evenly poised words of President Wilson; and 
I wondered how much of the primitive past 
ai^d how much of the glorious future lie in the 
depths of the soul, revealed in her intensely 
thoughtful attention. 

— 37 — 



QLIMPSE8 OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ENTER WOMAN. 

It occurred to me, too, as I observed her, that 
this is an epoch in the history of womankind, 
for it is the first time that women were ever 
present in any capacity at such a meeting. Is it 
not significant that they make their entrance 
at a Peace Conference? And I found myself 
praying that those diplomats could feel, as a 
woman feels, the unmeasurable waste of hu- 
manity in the grim game of war. Surely, with 
the numberless sacrifices she made and the glo- 
rious part she took in a thousand ways, even 
in the fighting ranks, to help win this war, 
her soul-deep dread of the thing is not effemin- 
ate, but human ! 

THE INTERESTING ARAB. 

Next to President Wilson, who not only in 
my own but in all eyes is the dominant figure 
at all these proceedings, my chief interest was 
stirred by an Arab, Prince Feissel, son of the 
King of Hejaz and the most picturesque charac- 
ter in the Conference. Sitting with his arms 
folded across his chest, he had the quiet seren- 
ity of a lofty philosopher. He wore an Euro- 
pean military uniform with a Sam Brown belt, 
which was a striking contrast to his beautiful 
silk native turban head dress. His skin was 
dark olive color, and he wore a distinguishing 
black mustache and beard. In his calm, deep 
set eyes he seemed to carry the vision of all the 
hopes and aspirations of his country; and, 
when one reflected that his people had suffered 
more than a quarter million casualties during 
— 38 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

the war, one appreciated that liis country had 
something to hope for in this Conference. 

"DIPLOMACY." 

The story of the King of Hejaz is especially 
of interest, because it is typical of a number 
of problems, that the Conference must solve. 
Indeed, one may say it is typical of the old or- 
der as against the new; of secret diplomacy 
as against fair and open dealing; of the expe- 
diency of war as against the justice of peace. 
In 1916 England and France signed a secret 
treaty, now generally known, at least here, 
which, in effect, recognized that France should 
have a protectorate and sovereign rights in Sy- 
ria similar to those England was planning for 
herself in Mesopotamia. Sometime later the 
British made another secret treaty, which is 
likewise known here now, with the Sheriff of 
Mecca, who is no other than the King of Hejaz ; 
and by this second treaty the sovereignty of 
the King of Hejaz over the whole of the Arabian 
East, including Syria, was recognized. Now, of 
course, the French are demanding that the 
agreement of England with them shall be ful- 
filled while the King of the Hejaz has sent 
Prince Feissel to Paris, accompanied by Col. 
Lawrence, a British officer and himself an un- 
usually attractive figure, to plead the cause of 
the Arabs. 

All this, and much more than I have said, 
in connection, ran through my thoughts while 
sitting in the ante-room watching the Confer- 
ence ; and, as my glance shifted from the Arab 
to Lloyd George, to Clemenceau, and back to 
— 39 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

the Arab, the power of a single idea, singly 
pursued, came to my mind; and I was ready 
to lay my stake that the owner of that inscrut- 
able countenance beneath the picturesque tur- 
ban would bring his people out ahead. Perhaps 
I felt something of the charm of that mystic 
land, the charm that Hichens makes to seem so 
real ; perhaps it was devotion to Wilson 's point 
on self-determination, which keeps ever thrum- 
ming in my blood ; but I am for the Arabs. 

THE DOMINANT FIGURE. 

It seemed only a few minutes after it opened 
that the first session of the World Congress 
was closed, so interesting was it all, I lingered 
to hear Lloyd Oeorge and the French Commis- 
sioner, Tardieu, express their satisfaction and 
delight with the proceedings. I watched the 
delegates from various countries, as they gath- 
ered around a tall, impressive, smiling figure. 
I observed his ready, cordial manner with all, 
and could not but see that, whether in the Con- 
ference or out of it, he dominated the scene. 
He was the President of the United States. 



League of Nations. One of the Favored 
Correspondents. ' 

P?^ ARIS, Jan 25. — Today Paris is stTicken 
1^^ with internal paralysis. Strikes have 
^ been declared; and the service of ail 

subways, surface cars and motor buses 
is discontinued. Every other kind of vehicle 
has been suddenly pressed into use; and the 
oddest and most amusing scenes occur in the 
streets. Fancy dignified army officers mounted 
on bicycles, riding solemnly along the boule- 
vards of Paris to meet their appointments. 
Other jolly chaps go merrily on their way in lit- 
tle two-wheeled carts, drawn by donkeys. The 
taxi drivers are kings — that is, they are scarce 
like kings, but not nearly so modest and unas- 
suming as kings — ^nowadays. If one wishes to 
go where they wish to go, one may. Long ago 
the number of machines was limited by the 
Fuel Administrator : and the drivers were inde- 
pendent even before the present emergency con- 
ferred royal prerogatives upon them. 

Being an American democrat and opposed to 
the divine right of even a chauffeur (and not 
trusting the donkey), I walked, this afternoon, 
to the Quai d'Orsay for the second full session 
of the Conference. The day was cold, bleak 
and grey, and the air biting ; and it was a great 
comfort to find the Assemblage Hall well heat- 
ed and brilliantly alight with a thousand elec- 
tric candles. 

— 41 — 



(GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 



WHiSON PROPOSES LEAGUE OF NATIONS. 

At 3 o^clock all the delegates were seated, 
«,iid M. Clemenceau opened the meeting. Mr. 
Wilson, the first speaker, arose from his seat, at 
the right of the president, and presented the 
principle of the League of Nations. He was 
very grave and spoke, in the beginning, with a 
slightly trembling voice, which deeply touched 
his hearers, who listened to his low, distinct 
utterances with rapt attention. He spoke for fif- 
teen minutes, using a few gestures, which were 
very impressive. At the close of his remarks, 
one man began to applaud, but he was imme- 
diately quieted by sh-h-h's from all corners of 
the room. This was the only demonstration 
during the afternoon. 

'GEORGE AND ORLANDO ENDORSE PROPOSAL. 

Lloyd George followed Mr. Wilson with a 
very brief speech in the way of seconding the 
League of Nations' proposal, speaking with 
much earnestness, while he constantly fingered 
his eye-glasses, which hung at the end of a 
long black cord around his neck. This is the 
English Premier's one mannerism, fingering 
feis eye-glasses. Signor Orlando voiced his ap- 
proval on behalf of Italy; and the League of 
Nations resolution was then regularly '* re- 
ferred to the proper committee." The Presi- 
dent of the United States had scored one of his 
greatest triumphs. 

A STORM. 

Until this time, all had been quiet, dignified, 
solemn, with the traditional diplomatic forms 
— 42 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

and amenities closely observed. Suddenly a 
storm broke. Monsieur Hymans, a large, im- 
pressive figure and a convincing speaker, 
arose quickly and frankly stated that Belgium 
should have two members on the committee, 
urging, in support, her peculiar geographical 
position, and not failing, by way of appeal, to 
mention the sufferings of his country during 
the war. He was followed in rapid succession 
by a number of aroused delegates of the small 
nations, each one growing more emphatic and 
vociferous in urging the claims of his country. 
Soon all the small nations were on the floor: 
Siam, Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, Portugal, and 
many more, with Yenezelos, entreating for 
Greece, in their lead. The confusion seemed 
altogether unexpected. Wilson and Lloyd 
George dropped the manuscripts, on which they 
had been jotting notes, and leaned over the 
table in sudden interest. Clemenceau sat 
calmly, his hands (wearing the gray gloves, 
which he never removes during the afternoon) 
resting quietly on the table before him ; but for 
a brief period only, for in moment he, too, was 
on his feet ; and the passages between him and 
the Belgian Foreign Minister became very spir- 
ited. Several times M. Hymans did not wait to 
rise for his rapid retorts to the French Premier. 
In the midst of all this heated debate, with 
its vigorous and incessant gesticulating accom- 
paniment — just when it was most intense, I 
saw Woodrow Wilson's face break into a broad, 
beaming smile, as if there were a bit of humor 
in the situation, that his good nature could not 
resist. 

— 43 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

THE OUTCOME. 

However, the Belgian delegate proved an 
able champion of the small nations; and it 
looked as if they would be there indefinitely, 
clamoring for greater representation, when 
Clemenceau, gaining attention once more, made 
a dramatic plea for prompt work and dispatch 
of business, solemnly voicing his belief and his 
assurance that the small nations, that all na- 
tions, would be given fair play and justice. 
As a result, it was unanimously agreed that the 
Great Powers should have two delegates each 
and the nineteen smaller nations five among 
them on the League of Nations Committee. By 
this time many of those sitting around the ta- 
ble were looking weary, perhaps bored; they 
seemed at the end quite willingly if not gladly 
to thrust their brown and yellow hands (the 
assembly reminded one of Joseph's coat of 
many colors) into the air in token of their as- 
sent. This closed the long meeting, at ten 
minutes past six. 

WIHAT A TRANSFORMATION! 

I walked out into the gathering darkness of 
the evening, across the Seine, to the Place de 
la Concorde, where the captured German can- 
non — the cannon, that the Kaiser said he would 
one day plant in Paris, you know — are assem- 
bled. The city was being tucked away for the 
night in a thin, white covering of snow; and 
the big, cold, rusty guns looked as if they might 
be the gloomy lelics of an age long gone. And 
yet, I have just dined with a sweet, attractive, 
— 44 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

cultured woman, four years ago the happy 
©wner of a French villa, where her delightful 
family was surrounded with loveliness and 
plenty, today alone, penniless, begging Mrs. 
Millar of the Catholic War Council, for em- 
ployment, in order that she might live — thanks 
to these same engines of destruction, that look 
grimly across the Place de la Concorde. 

I wonder if President Wilson, at the Confer- 
ence this afternoon, when he smiled at the con- 
fusion made over a member more or less on a 
committee, might, perhaps, have thought how 
beseechingly those mute guns look to every 
passer-by, and only smiled and w^as silent be- 
cause he knew that tonight the Belgian Minis- 
ter would pass that way and look again on 
those silent, pleading things that tell, more el- 
oquently than any human tongue, the suffer- 
ing of his valiant little land ; that demand more 
forcibly than any human voice, a just and last- 
ing peace for all the world. 

THE N. C. W, C. CLUB. 

Mrs. Millar, of the National Catholic War 
Council, has taken over, furnished, the resi- 
dence of the Countess of Montebello, one of 
the loveliest houses in Paris, for the N. C. W. C. 
Club, a kind of headquarters for the women- 
workers here and being sent over, for whom 
there is a very great demand, especially in 
Northern France, where the refugees are going 
back to their villages, their ''homes." Oh, the 
cruel, bitter irony of that word! Without 
houses, without food, without schools, without 
churches, without husbands or fathers, without 
— 45 — 



aHMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

anything but faith and hope and the worn wood 
of memories that are all dreary and sad. Yes, 
our good Catholic women and any other work- 
ers will be welcome— a Godsend, to that grim, 
desolate, battle-swept region. Presently, per- 
haps,* I shall move over with Mrs. Millar, as I 
may be of some little use in the between-times, 
when there is nothing to be gleaned, after the 
news reporters have writ their full for the dai- 
lies. Perhaps, too, as I wish to go up to the 
front as soon as President Wilson returns to 
America, I may ''merge" the Catholic Press 
Association and the National Catholic War 
Council all in my one wee self. 

PERTURBATION OF THE PRESS. 

For, with the turn that ''open diplomacy" 
took last week, when the Wilson point of ' ' open 
covenants openly arrived at" looked to the 
newspaper people like a bludgeon, we corres- 
pondents have not much left, when the report- 
ers get through. Everything was certainly in 
a jam for awhile. One can only imagine the 
consternation among the thousand or so news- 
paper men, who had come to Paris from all 
quarters, when they were told that the sessions 
of the Conference would be secret. Some of 
them' were perfectly frantic with anger, arid all 
Were thoroughly aroused. There were indig- 
nation meetings, meetings of rebellion, meet- 
ings of all kinds ; one somewhere every fifteen 
minutes; with petitions, memorials, and all 
those sorts of things, flying about as plentiful- 
ly, almost, as locusts in a plague. 
— 46 — 



aUMPSES OP THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ONE OiP THE FAVORED. 

The storm made itself felt, too, as you know, 
of course, from the cabled dispatches conveying 
the intelligence that the full sessions would ad- 
mit a favored number of correspondents. I 
was thankful to be among the number, not 
alone because it was a distinct recognition of 
the Catholic Press Association, but it relieves 
me from having to write continually of the 
high prices (I priced some pears yesterday, 
only priced them; they were fifty-five cents 
each) ; of the rarity of chicken and ham, of the 
paper napkins two inches square one is given 
at breakfast, and the linen as large as a table- 
cloth, that one has at dinner ; of the intermina- 
ble carnivals, that take possession of the boule- 
vards and block the passage of vehicles every 
time a royal personage comes to Paris, which 
is almost daily ; of the abundance of time, that 
everybody appears to have, except the Ameri- 
cans ; of the women and children, the very tots, 
doing hard and heavy work around the hotels 
and in the streets, early and late; and of the 
infinite number of other more or less interesting 
matters, which make up the picture of Paris 
today, when, as never before, it is the chief 
center of the world. 



The Center of Interest. Other Commissions. 
Americans Leading. 

TI?\ ARIS, Feb. 2. — ^Before this letter reaches 
Ki' you, President Wilson will no doubt 
-Lb have returned to the United States, as 

I hear that he has arrangements all 
made to sail about the 15th. I can not imagine 
what they will do at the Peace Conference when 
he is gone. He is so completely the center of 
all activity, and so nearly the source of all 
ideas, that to one who observes the buzzing 
around where he is, and the standing-by-mark- 
ing-time where he is not, it might seem that 
the bottom of affairs will drop out, when he 
departs to board the George Washington. 

OFF FOR THE BATTLEFIELDS. 

The correspondents are making plans to 
visit the devastated fields as soon as the Presi- 
dent has departed Paris. I have already ar- 
ranged to visit Chateau-Thierry and Belleau 
Woods. Really, I was to start on the trip to 
Chateau-Thierry yesterday; had gotten my 
pass from American Expeditionary Forces 
Headquarters, with all its minute instructions 
as to wearing heavy shoes, warm clothing, etc., 
and arrangements for automobile, conducting 
officer and chaperon, which the military author- 
ities look after to the last detail; but had a 
touch of la grippe, and the doctor talked to 
me in dark tones about pneumonia, base hos- 
— 48 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

pitals and such fearful things until my resolu- 
tion gave way. His admonitions became im- 
pressive, when he told me that over half of 
the Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. organizations is 
in Southern France, recuperating from sick- 
ness. I had heard that ten of the K. C. men, 
that came over on the same boat with me, have 
been in the B'ase Hospital with influenza, and 
I knew that Mr. Perkins, who came over with 
Fosdick and Schiff, has been critically ill with 
pneumonia ; and everybody has been complain- 
ing of the gloomy weather, the rains and lack 
of sunshine. I decided to wait a couple of days, 
although, of course, put the responsibility on 
the solicitous advice of my physician. 

"SUNNY FRANCE!" 

I think there is a good deal of irony in the 
talk we used to hear about '* Sunny France,'' 
for the sun has made but one effort to shine 
since I have been here, and it seem to me it 
has rained every day. Some days, just before 
midnight, we begin to think we will skip a 
day ; when, about two minutes of 12 :00, the fall- 
ing drops, cold and fine, are seen glistening 
in the street light. 

Tomorrow, I hope to move into the N. C. W. 
C. Club with Mrs. Millar. She has twenty-five 
girls coming over; and we shall all live in the 
club together, just like a boarding-school. You 
can well guess that will be one jolly crowd. 
I have secured a list of all the hospitals where 
there are Americans, and am going through 
them. Will carry along with me for distribu- 
— 49 — 



&LIMP8E8 OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

tion some supplies furnished by the N. C. W. C, 
which you can imagine will make me a wel- 
come visitor as well as being in itself very in- 
teresting and appealing. The Club will be con- 
ducted like a lodge, canteen and club-room 
combined. The girls will live in the upper 
floors, while the lower floors will be used for 
canteen service. It is a most delightful ar- 
rangement, and the place is really very beauti- 
ful and charming. Mrs. Millar and the N. C. 
W.C. are to be congratulated on their success 
and good fortune in securing such pleasing and 
commodious quarters. 

MAN "FROM BACK HOME." 

I have seen but :^ew familiar faces in Paris; 
and but for some old acquaintances here would 
have been very lonesome. Who should I bump 
into, though, a few days ago, but Mr. Krock, 
of our Louisville Courier Journal. He was very 
much astonished to see me. We were both wait- 
ing for the adjournment of one of the meetings 
of the Commission on the Society of Nations. 
The meetings of this commission are all strict- 
ly private; and reporters, correspondents and 
all others alike, are barred from them. This 
is true, also, of the meetings of the other com- 
missions and of all committee meetings. We 
are never certain of the things of real import- 
ance, that are going on, until the official bulle- 
tin is given out ; and the newspaper representa- 
tives, therefore, miss no opportunity of catch- 
ing an interview with some of the diplomats 
as they come and go, thinking, perhaps, by the 
— 50 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

manner, in which these ** conceal thought, '^ as 
Tallyrand put it, to surmise what is going on. 
Mr. Krock was very active in securing the 
concession of publicity granted when the Con- 
ference finally consented to the presence of 
thirty newspaper representatives at its full 
session, being one of a committee of three (Mr. 
Herbert Bayard Swope, of the New York Worlds 
and Mr. Lawrence, of theWashington Post, were 
the other two) finally selected by the American 
newspaper men to lay the matter before Presi- 
dent Wilson. We all here feel rather indebted 
to these men for their services to the American 
Press ; and, quite naturally, I am glad that the 
representative of my own home paper was 
among them, while he was as pleased as myself 
to see someone from home, we are that lone- 
some, in this immense concourse of strangers. 
Was it not Hardy who said there is no solitude 
like that in a great city? At any rate, I can 
well understand such an expression. 

THE CENTER OF INTEREST. 

The Commission on the League of Nations 
is naturally the chief center of public interest, 
for it is in every way the most important of the 
five commissions created by the Conference. 
Its personnel is most impressive; it is the only 
commission, of which the President of the 
United States is a member. The other leading 
members are Lord Robert Cecil for the British 
Empire, Leon Bourgeois for France, M. Or- 
lando for Italy, and M. Viscount Chinda for 
Japan. 

— 51 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 
OTHER COMMISSIONS. 

Although they have been reported in the 
news dispatches, I may mention the other com- 
missions as matter of record. There are two 
dealing with temporary matters; the Commis- 
sion on Responsibility for the War, of which 
Mr. Lansing is chairman, and the Commission 
on Reparation and Damages, of which Mr. Ba- 
ruch is head. Then there are two other com- 
missions dealing with more permanent ques- 
tions, which are the Commission on Internation- 
al Labor Legislation, with Messrs. Hurley and 
Gompers representing the United States; and 
the Commission on International Ports, Water- 
ways and Railways, with Mr. White and Major 
Scott for us. This last commission is not a 
novel one, as there has been an International 
Commission for the Control of the Danube and 
connected waterways since the Berlin Congress 
of 1878, if not before, which furnishes an in- 
structive precedent and guide for the present 
commission to follow or steer by. The Com- 
mission on International Labor Legislation is, 
of course, new; and its very existence shows 
how far different are the sympathies and aims 
of this TJongress from any ever before held. It 
seems to be conceded that not only the peace 
terms but the League of Nations itself will 
give recognition to the rights of labor. Who, 
then, will say that, after all, these terrible years 
have not been worth while? 

AiMERICANS LEADING. 

And is it not wonderful that, on all these 
commissions, Americans are the leading mem- 
_52~ 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

bers? Naturally, the President is the para- 
mount figure, but to him only do Lansing, Gom- 
pers, Hurley and one or two more stand second. 
Some rather severe criticism followed the se- 
lection of Geo. D. Herron to act with Mr. White 
at the Conference with the Russian factions 
and factionists, but from all accounts he ought 
to understand the Bolsheviki, especially their 
social and moral, or rather immoral ideas. 

Anyway, the people are looking to Woodrow 
Wilson as they look to no other man, for he is 
the leader of the Americans, and they are the 
hope of the world. 



The Religious Phase. The Difficulty. American 
Sympathy. 

T^ ARTS, Feb. 9. — ^For a week now, scarce- 
12/ ly anything of definite and certain 
l-» character has developed from the Con- 

ference. Perhaps, I should say rather 
that scarcely anything has been made public, 
for no one doubts that developments are tak- 
ing place in the private sessions of the various 
Commissions and particularly in those of the 
Commission on the League of Nations, on which 
Mr. Wilson is working day and night. In fact, 
to the Americans, who are long accustomed to 
the quiet, effective way of the President, this 
very paucity of public information leaking out 
is a sign of ** something doing," and there is an 
air of confident expectancy around the Crillon. 

FRANCE WANTS MILITARY GUARANTEE. 

There is an abundance of rumors, of course, 
there always is — and by that I do not mean 
mere gossip from irresponsible persons or 
vague, uncertain sources. Everything is more 
or less rumor, that is not ''official;" and noth- 
ing is official, strictly, but the full Conference 
bulletins. We have it, for instance, from those 
in a position to judge and to know the wishes of 
the French, that they will not consent to a 
League of Nations, that does not guarantee to 
France the certain assurance of adequate mili- 
tary forces is case of war; but those express- 
— 54-- 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ing this opinion, however well they may know 
the French mind, are not members of the Con- 
ference; and there you are. 

CHINA AND JAPAN. 

We hear that the Chinese delegation is asking 
that the Ishii-Lansing agreement be abrogated 
as unjust to China. I believe it is the fifth 
clause, in particular, that they consider objec- 
tionable and wish abolished. At the same time, 
China is complaining of certain secret treaties 
between her and Japan, which Japan is ob- 
jecting to being disclosed to the Conference; 
and there are dark hints about the baggage of 
the Chinese delegation being rifled under in- 
structions from the Japanese Government in 
order to secure the only copies of these treaties 
in Europe. It all makes a very interesting side- 
light. 

ITALY AND JUGO-SLAVIA. 

This Aveek, President Wilson conferred with 
S. Orlando and Mr. Trumbitch in regard to the 
claims of Italy and Jugo-Slavia. The result 
has not been made public. It seems very cer- 
tain, however, that Italy will withstand a good 
deal of pressure before surrendering the claims, 
that she bases on her treaty with England and 
France, made when Italy cast the die and came 
in with the Triple Entente — long before the 
principle of self-determination was adopted, be- 
fore there was even a thought of a Jugo-Slavia. 
The British Foreign Secretary, Arthur J. Bal- 
four, announced to the newspaper correspond- 
ents last Saturday, that the League of Nations 
would not affect ^existing alliances; but, so far, 
— 55 — 



GLIMPSES OF TEE PEACE CONFERENCE 

it is not certain whether that means such an 
alliance as was contemplated in the famous 
London Pact. If it does, the self-determination 
principle must be elastic enough to yield at that 
point. 

THE BALKAN RIDDLE. 

It is several months, of course, since the se- 
cret treaty between Italy and the Allies was 
made public ; but others are showing up every 
day. The latest, perhaps, to appear is one with 
Rumania, which conflicts with certain claims of 
the Czecho-Slovaks. And so it goes. There is 
no possibility of reconciling the conflicting in- 
terests. It gets my poor head all mixed to listen 
to them. I wonder that President Wilson is 
not perfectly disgusted. It is the old Balkan 
situation with numerous angles added and the 
problems of a collapsed Empire thrown in. I 
remember someone saying years ago that only 
one person ever understood the Balkan situa- 
tion and that he was dead. It is here that 
Catholic interests are, perhaps, most deeply in- 
volved. 

THE RELIGIOUS PHASE. 

Among the South Slavs, which include the 
Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes, the 
Serbs are Orthodox, and the others Catholic. 
But, although in the majority, the 
Croats and Slovenes are not in control of the 
Jugo-Slav movement, for the simple reason 
that it began as a Greater-Serbia movement and 
with the aim merely to include the Serbs of 
Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina and that im- 
possible little square called the Banat. Natur- 
— 56 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ally, when the idea was extended to include 
Slovenia and Croatia, the forces first active 
and dominant retained the leadership. More- 
over, the unhappy rule of the Hapsburgs, cou- 
pled with the fact that they often made tho 
Church an instrument in their hands, has left 
the liberated subjects of the old empire rather 
indifferent as to whether their rulers are Orth- 
odox or something else. From what I can glean, 
all that the Catholics wish is freedom of wor- 
ship. Of course, there are some who would 
welcome a return of old conditions, but they 
are few, and even they seemed reconciled, if 
only the Orthodox regime is not established, 
which, in spite of the constitution adopted, they 
rather strongly fear. 

IN CZEOHO-SLOVAKIA. 

The situation in regard to Czecho-Slovakia is 
much the same. The people of B'ohemia are 
perhaps, barring the German population, four- 
fifths Catholics, nominally, at least; but they 
have very little sympathy with a State running 
the Church ; and there will be no sort of union. 
from what I can learn. The President of the 
Republic, Dr. Masaryk, was a Catholic in his 
youth, but deserted his faith, like thousands of 
others, on account of the odium that the D^Tias- 
ty brought upon the Church in carrying out 
the imperial design to crush the aspirations of 
nationality, which seems to be the chief com- 
plaint laid against the Empire, apart, of course, 
from the war. As I understand it, through dis- 
cussion with several persons of first import- 
ance attached to the Czecho-Slovak representa- 
— 57 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

tives here, the many small nations, that formed 
the artificial Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, had 
every reason, that small peoples struggling 
against extinction could have, to hate the Gov- 
ernment, which strove to keep them as poor, 
ignorant and helpless as possible; and the 
Church came in for a generous share of their 
dislike because of its close relations with the 
Government. 

WARY OF STATE DOMINATION. 

Some, with whom I have spoken on the sub- 
ject, seem to be exemplary Catholics; at least, 
they voice the deepest reverence for the Church, 
and for everything Catholic ; and, according to 
their view, it is most fortunate that the Repub- 
lic did not follow in the steps of the Monarchy 
in respect to the union of Church and State, 
which would mean, as one of them put it to me, 
**not a free Church in a free State, as you have 
in America; but a State dominating the 
Church." There is some danger, they admit, 
from the radical and anti-clerical elements 
among the Czecho-Slovaks ; but it is their opin- 
ion that any attempt to suppress that danger 
by means of the State Government would only 
be perpetuating the main causes, that brought 
about the existence of those elements. 

THE DIFFICUDTY. 

They see, also, that there will be great diffi- 
culty for the people to support religion. 

''In this respect," they say, ''we are not sit- 
uated so fortunately as you in America. We 
are practically all Catholics, and the support of 
— 58 — 



GLIMPSES OF TEE PEACE iJO^FERE^CE 

the Church falls upon us heavily from the start. 
We have not, as you had, merely to build as 
we are able, to call for pastors as we can sup- 
port them ; those things are here, provided with- 
out any reference to our ability to maintaiB 
them. Of course, we have maintained them, 
we alone, and, no doubt, considered simply in 
its economic aspect, at a greater burden than 
will now be required; but it has been done in- 
directly; now it must be done directly, and 
while not really more burdensome, it will seem 
so. Perhaps, it is only a matter of psychology, 
after all." 

SYMPATHY OF AMERIOANS. 

Naturally, most Americans are rather sympa- 
thetic with the Slav viewpoint — some of us, I 
fear, to such extent as to forget the essential 
difference between a people, that is a mosaic 
of religious elements, like our own, and one 
that is practically all Catholics. One must con- 
fess a dread of the pagan State, and perhaps 
worse of the atheistic State, though the wor,st 
of all, I can imagine, is the Hypocrite State. 
The Slavs, both North and South, feel that they 
have suffered too long from the last mentioned ; 
they are taking their chances on their Govern- 
ments not going to the other extreme. 



Great Enterprises Involve Danger. The One 
Real Thing. 

ARIS, Feb. 17.— There have been all 
kinds of talk this last week about mov- 
ing the Peace Conference. Fancy I It 
started when Ferdinand Larnaude, 
head of the Paris Law Faculty and French 
member of the Conference Commission on the 
Constitution of the League of Nations, gave 
out a statement about the League-plan includ- 
ing a great international army, which was 
widely quoted in the French Press, apparently 
with great joy. No doubt it was all talk about 
moving, but it had the effect of moderating the 
policy of the French Press, which some were 
beginning to regard as deliberately obstruc- 
tive. 

THE ZERO HOUR. 

Coming at the same time with the develop- 
ment of a threatening attitude on the part of 
the Germans, the whole thing made a tense sit- 
uation and gave an uneasy feeling. You can 
not imagine it. With the German National As- 
sembly all going in order, and electing a Pres- 
ident by a practically unanimous vote; and 
Brzberger declaring that Germany would not 
renew the armistice, if the terms were too se- 
vere ; and Lloyd George gone to England ; and 
the French growing more and more insistent; 
and the Japanese disputing with China; and 
— 6i0 — 



GLIMP8ES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

Italy wholly engrossed with the Jugo-Slav sit- 
uation; and war still going on in the Balkans, 
and in Poland, and in the Ukraine; and mur- 
mnrings of the people everywhere — it was a 
very discouraging ensemble. 

For, if Europe was a powder keg before the 
war, it is a smouldering volcano now, with in- 
ternal fire fiercely burning, and intermittently 
breaking forth, now at the base, now out in the 
plains, now up among the crags and peaks. 
The crater alone is capped, and, if that be 
blown off, it will not be like an explosion, but 
an overwhelming tide of hot blood and destruc- 
tion boiling up and falling back upon itself, 
engulfing everything, consuming everything. 
It would not be a renewal of the war ; it would 
not be mere revolution ; it would be literal and 
universal ruin. 

EVERYONE SENSED IT. 

^^Ten see it ; women feel it ; the people know 
it : their rulers realize it, and none more clear- 
ly, more certainly, more vividly, more under- 
standingly than Woodrow Wilson, who, per- 
haps more than any other man on earth, car- 
ries with him the burden and the bane of this 
dreadful prospect, and the duty of preventing 
its being realized. 

But, if you can not imagine the anxiety ex- 
perienced in sitting, or rather living and being 
forced to remain under the shadow of a grum- 
bling volcano, with an improvised, temporary, 
makeshift of a lid, that is constantly melting 
away and repeatedly being patched up, as is 
the nature of an armistice, neither can you im- 
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GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

agine the unmistakable sense of security, safe- 
ty and comfort that must arise when you see 
the makeshift being replaced by a thoroughly 
well-constructed, strong, ample device, which 
the world puts there, and agrees to keep there, 
should any uncontrolled influence ever attempt 
to throw it off. 

WHAT A RELIEF. 

That is the best way I can describe the im- 
pressions created by the announcement, which 
came in the midst of disturbing rumors, that 
the Commission on the League of Nations, head- 
ed by Mr. Wilson, had determined the princi- 
ples and prepared a constitution for the League 
of Nations, with the fourteen powers represent- 
ed giving it their unanimous approval. All 
talk stopped, over here at least ; fear vanished ; 
threats hushed. There was a great sigh of re- 
lief, almost of comfort, when the official news 
came. It was as though one could open the 
windows and venture out into the freshened 
air — perhaps, see the sunshine breaking 
through the scurrying clouds, after an awfully 
threatening storm. 

I am only giving the first impression, the feel- 
ing, the humanity-impulse, created, like when 
Peter the Hermit preached the First Crusade, 
and the multitude cried out in unison: "God 
wills it! God wills it!" It may turn out a 
dream. After that first impulse of feeling for 
humanity, a second may come, for nationality ; 
and a third, of jealousy; and a fourth, of dis- 
trust; and, one after another, they may spring 
up in numbers, until the old selfish temper 
— 62 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

again gets the upper hand. Possibly the Con- 
ference has not taken right precautions to keep 
down these subtle traits, which are impervious 
to reason, unapproachable with force, and can 
only be reached and controlled by that silent, 
gentle, invisible influence, which comes from 
another world. Possibly! 

CRITXCISM'S. 

Already, though it is but three days since 
the beautiful vision of peace was thrown upon 
the screen, there are criticisms being hurled 
at it, by friend as well as foe. No doubt they 
are being fully aired by the newspapers at 
home, especially the objection that the League 
does not free Ireland, the example par excellence 
of a small nation deprived of its nationality; 
or that it does not definitely provide for disarm- 
ament, which many consider the only effective 
means of preventing world wars ; or that it con- 
travenes the traditions of America as inherited 
from Washington 's warning against entangling 
alliances ; or that it supersedes the Monroe Doc- 
trine by making not the United States but oth- 
ers the judge and arbiter of the relations be- 
tween Latin America and foreign countries ; or 
that it endorses and makes a part of the inter- 
national law, the naval policy of Great Britain 
which Mr. Wilson pronounced ^ illegal and in- 
defensible" early in the war; or that it fixes 
or presupposes to be fixed and unchangeable, 
the boundaries of nations, as if nations do not 
grow and expand and acquire the right (on the 
principle of self-determination) to new and ad- 
ditional boundaries. 

— 63 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

AND MORE ORITICISMS. 

Many more criticisms than these are being 
echoed about and expressed in the newspapers 
here, either as original thought or in the way 
of quoting opinions elsewhere voiced; some, I 
notice, from America. There are others of a 
more general type, such as that the League is 
not a League of Nations, but of rulers ; that it 
is not even a League in any true sense but 
merely a camouflaged alliance between Great 
Britain and the United States, or at best, the 
five Great Powers; that it is not democratic, 
but autocratic, or oligarchic, or something of 
the kind; that it does not destroy the balance- 
of-power system in Europe, but extends it to 
the world and raises it to the nth power ; that, 
even if it works out as intended and with all 
the pov/ers keeping faith among themselves, it 
does not mean, and can not bring,a peace of lib- 
erty, but only peace by suppression. 

FREEDOM OP CONSCIENCE? 

The one most general criticism, perhaps, — 
that is, the one expressed most generally, is in 
regard to the freedom of conscience clause, 
which apparently, it is said, applies only in case 
of the captured colonies of Germany that are 
the very backwardest in their development, 
** those of Central Africa" alone being men- 
tioned, leaving all the other peoples of the 
world free to practice religious discrimination, 
so far as the League is concerned. And some 
I hear talk, who are citizens of countries where 
religious persecution has not been unknown, 
even in late years, are greatly impressed and, 
— 64 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

in a way, disturbed, at this striking omission, 
arguing that, since the constitution provides 
for a mutual agreement in respect to child la- 
bor and the like, the failure to provide for reli- 
gious freedom, even in the mandatory 
provinces other than Central Africa, is virtual- 
ly an invitation by the League to all countries, 
lately practicing religious persecution, to pro- 
ceed in their happy way. That is to say, as a 
certain high official of one such country (it is 
not necessary to designate them.) put it to me : 
''They did not refrain from guaranteeing reli- 
gious liberty because it was an internal mat- 
ter, since it certainly is no m^ore so than is 
child and woman labor ; and, therefore I dread 
to think why they did refrain, as it is very 
plain that they had it up and deliberately de- 
clined to go farther than what we see. ' ' 

HOBBY RIDERS. 

"But that seems to me a purely negative ob- 
jection to the League as such," I suggested. 

''True," he admitted at once; "and when 
you have considered all you hear in the way of 
objection to it, there will scarcely be a point 
that is other than purely negative. The "main 
difficulty of the situation," he went on, "is that 
these negatives, when added together by the 
petty fellows, who make a sort of hobby of 
one or the other thing they would like to see 
done, will take on size and dimensions and, 
perhaps, strength, and may loom up to cloud 
the vision or overcome the purpose, and go 
that far to defeat the one great purpose of the 
League, which is peace, peace for the world, 
— 65 — 



aLIMPSES OF THE PEACE GONFERENOE 

peace at least for this generation and likely for 
several generations yet to come." 

ALL aRBAT BNTBRPRISES INVOLVE DANGER. 

The speaker mused awhile and then turned 
to me with a brightened look, to say: ''I hear 
some of you Americans talking about your 
Monroe Doctrine, but what was that for but 
ipeace^ And then, the warning of your illus- 
trious first President, was not that intended 
for peace? And if peace by suppression is 
good after we have been fighting these four 
years, would not it have been good before we 
began to fight? I have heard all the objec- 
tions," he concluded earnestly, "and all the 
suggestions in connection with the League. I 
have made some of my own, both ways. I can 
see the possibility, nay, the certainty, of great 
wrongs committed by nations in spite of the 
League. I can see the chance of them being 
committed through means of the League. I can 
see danger in the League. But there are al- 
ways chances; always dangers, especially in 
big things. Columbus risked danger. Wash- 
ington did. Lincoln did. You know. Their 
courage made possible what is the hope of the 
world today; and Wilson's courage will realize 
it. Danger! Why that's what Americans de- 
light in, those of the real type; and do you 
suppose Europeans will be frightened by it 
after these four years?" 

THE ONE REAL THING. 

And somehow, as he finished, it seemed to 
me, that all the objections I had heard discuss- 
— 66 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ed with so much strain and vigor applied not 
to the League but rather to conditions, that 
obtain whether there is a League or not; and 
the one thing tangible, the one thing positive, 
the one thing real in it all— in the years of war, 
in the death and destruction, in the Conference, 
with its bickerings and schemings and hidden 
strifes, in the humiliation and dismemberment 
of Empires, in it all— is the League of Nations, 
with its promise of peace to the world, the 
highest reach of human effort and under- 
standing ever made toward peace on earth, 
which, if it must fail, will fail only because it 
is only human. 

After all, God rules the world. 



Visit to Benedictine Monastery. The Solemn 
Grandeur of the Gregorian Chant. 

p^ ARIS, Feb. 22. — Oh ! it seems impossible ! 
1^ Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, Vaux, 
Jl-s> Rheims! I have looked upon their 

ruins; and my spirit is sad and chas- 
tened. No words can picture their des- 
olation. Nothing can describe the dis- 
mal silence, the awful blight, the chill 
and death that are there. The- day 
we chanced on for our trip was frightfully 
cold. We were caught in a blizzard on the way ; 
our car stuck in the ditches; the wind was 
strong, impatient, biting; and the sun, millions 
of miles off, was completely hidden ! 

"TORCY WAS A VILLAGE." 

We crossed a little stream, no broader than 
one's hand it looked to me, accustomed to the 
magnificent streams in America. It is the 
Marne, a mere brook of a thing, that it is in- 
credible to think served twice in four years to 
save the world. We passed by a heap near the 
roadside. 

''Torcy !" called the guide. 

''And what is Torcy?" I questioned. 

*'Torcy was a village,*' said the guide. 

One could not have known ; it is only a heap 
now. Very near by is a little American ceme- 
tery, that completes the story. 
— 68 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFEREISWE 



BELLEAU WOOD. 

''Bellean Wood!" called the guide, indicat- 
ing a sharp upland to the left, where I could 
see numbers of huge black sticks jutting forth 
from the ground, some of them mere stumps, 
others bearing a resemblance to trees, but with 
branches broken off close to the body and leav- 
ing only the naked trunks clinging, as it were, 
for dear life to the earth. The first lines of 
Kilmer's beautiful poem ran through my 
mind — 

''I think that I shall never see 

''A poem lovely as a tree. 

''A tree, whose hungry mouth is prest. 

''Against the earth's sweet flowing breast." 
I could remember no more of the lines, but 
I wondered how the poet's Muse would sing 
to him, had he lived to look on a Vv inter's day 
at these charred and broken remnants of that 
once beautiful wood. 

"There," said the guide, ''is where the first 
miracle took place. It cost the American Ma- 
rines and doughboys 90 per cent of their men 
and officers; but the Germans knew then — and 
it was the first time since the war began that 
they had certain reason to know — that they 
would not win the war. The push, that began 
there, was never halted until the armistice was 
signed — ' ' but who does not know the story ! 

HEROISM THAT SHALL LIVE. 

"Only it should never be forgotten, that, 
while the sacrifice was terrible, and the tactics, 
in military lore, perhaps, not celebrated, the 
— 69 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

Americans showed their mettle here ; and, as 
it was their first chance, the moral effect, or 
the effect on the morale, if that is better, was 
tremendous beyond all comprehension. I 
thought of Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill, 
Tours, the Plains of Marathon, of all the Ther- 
mopylaes, where the sons of liberty had stood 
and where they lie, but they seemed like dim 
and distant memories in the presence of these 
glorious even though gloomy signs of a heroism, 
that must always live in song and story. 

BOURBSOHES AND VAUX. 

Another pile of silent and deserted debris 
by the roadside was once Bouresches, three 
times captured by the Germans, and three 
times taken back by the American regulars. A 
few walls remain, but that is all. A little far- 
ther on is Vaux. I looked all around to see the 
village, when the guide called out. There was 
only a pile of broken wood and mortar; even 
the walls were gone. In Chateau Thierry the 
bridges are all destroyed, and everywhere are 
signs of ruin, but some whole things are left 
standing. Not so Vaux — there is literally not 
one complete thing left. The guide — did I say 
he is an American petty officer? — explained 
why Vaux was destroyed, while Chateau Thier- 
ry was only '*shot up." It was the cannon at 
Vaux, but the Germans did not use cannon on 
Chateau Thierry, for their own men were in 
the town, when the fighting began; and, when 
the fighting in the town was over, the Germans 
had no time to think of using cannon. 
— 70 — 



&LIMP8ES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

HOT WORK, AND HAND-TO-HAND. 

'*See that marble statue of LaFontaine?" 
said the American; ''one knee is shot away. 
And those signs over the shops, you see, are 
very much deleted. Well, that is the work of 
machine guns ; cannon would have blown them 
away completely, destroyed the buildings, ev- 
erything, just like the other places you have 
seen. The Germans took the town, and tried 
to cross this bridge we are on. The Americans 
were stationed just there on that side. The 
Germans failed to cross. I guess we will never 
know how many thousand of them went off this 
bridge into the river, dead. That was in the 
June battle. Our boys began their counter at- 
tack here on June 18. They did cross the 
bridge. Some of them went off into the river, 
too; but they took the town. It was hand-to- 
hand work, and machine guns. I don 't suppose 
there was anything else quite so fast and fu- 
rious in the war." 

A REAL BATTLE. 

''You see," the guide went on speaking, ''it 
was altogether different from Belleau Wood. 
There, the machine gun nests had to be cleaned 
out. A whole company would start for one 
gun, maybe, and the thing working straight at 
them from cover. Sometimes only two or three 
would get there. It was no use shooting; but 
just go to it ; clean them out. Our fellows nev- 
er had a chance. But here, they could shoot, 
too; and there's no sort of doubt that they 
did. This was a real battle ; that in the Wood 
just slaughter. The Wood showed our mettle. 
— 71 — 



(JLIMP8E8 OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

It was proof to the Germans that we were not 
in the game out of courtesy, or just to go on 
record ; but we were in it to win, no matter the 
cost. Then came Chateau Thierry, when our 
men went right over the bridge into their 
midst and drove them out, and they had proof, 
of the kind men gamble on, that our soldiers 
were better soldiers than theirs, could shoot 
straighter, fight faster and keep their heads 
better in the midst of it all. That was the end, 
I say. All the rest was just a matter of finding 
a way to back out best.'' 

THROUGH RUINS OF VILLAGES. 

Through Mont St. Pere, Jaulgonne, Verneuil, 
Villette-Tardenois, Vligny, all mere names of 
ruins now, though it is but four years since 
they were happy little towns, we came to 
Rheims, where the great cathedral towers are 
still uplifted, as if in triumphant acclaim that 
here is one city, that stood in the path of the 
onrushing German hordes, and did not fall. 
There is so much to say of Rheims, so much that 
may not be left unsaid, that I must defer writ- 
ing anything until another time. 

This concluded my visit to this section of the 
battlefields. I shall never forget the day. 

CLEMENCEAU SHOT. 

Back in Paris, all was excitement; Clemen- 
ceau had been shot! For awhile there was 
great anxiety for him ; but that now has passed. 
I hear a dozen different stories repeated; all 
without authority, touching his request to be 
nursed by a good religious, who nursed him 
— 72 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

through an ilhiess a year ago, it seems. It is 
naturally the first thought of a Catholic to won- 
der how the old statesman felt in the moment, 
when death seemed near. Someone started the 
rumor that a priest happened by during the 
immediate excitement on the street, and asked 
if he could serve the Premier, who answered; 
* ' Not yet ; ' ' but I cannot confirm this excellent 
story. 

POPE'S MESSAGE A SOURCE OP JOY. 

The message of sympathy sent by the Holy 
Father was a source of joy to the French Cath- 
olics, which they took no pains to conceal. They 
see in it a forerunner to better things, perhaps, 
a renewal of diplomatic relations with the Vati- 
can. It does not impress me that way, I must 
confess. All that I can make out of it is the 
natural sympathy and solicitude, that the Holy 
Father must feel for the victim of a deed so 
dastardly. But the French mind is very, very 
subtle. I trust, in this case, that it is also true. 
I do believe that the religious tone in the at- 
mosphere is growing stronger — not more pro- 
nounced, but more natural. It may be myself 
only, however, for I have just been to a Bene- 
dictine monastery, and feel very religious. 

VISIT TO A BENEDICTINE MONASTERY. 

I went to a lecture on G-regorian Music. It 
was illustrated most beautifully, with gorgeous 
religious chants. Then, there was an exhibit 
of the most exquisite vestments and habits, cen- 
turies old. The Benedictines are endeavoring 
to revive the use of the old style habit and vest- 
— 73 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE GONFEBENOB 

ments and, also, the Gregorian chant, constru- 
ing the Motu Propria of Pope Pius X in its 
literal meaning. 

aREOORIAN CHANT. 

Certainly, as heard this afternoon, the Chant 
is more appropriate for divine services. There 
is a solemnity about it that the polyphonic mu- 
sic, however grand and impressive, does not 
have. And, too, the free rhythm gives a fresh- 
ness to the tones that only a master can put 
into the measured bars. But the Chant must 
be well done, and I am told it can be well done 
only when it is done prayerfully. I know that 
I have heard it when it was horrid ; but today 
it was touching. 

The chapel of the monastery was a tiny one. 
It was an invitation affair and only a few per- 
sons were present, but at that the little place 
was crowded. It was a dark, cheerless chapel, 
with a few dim, weak oil lamps about. And 
cold and damp! I could almost imagine my- 
self in the catacombs I Solemn Vespers and 
Benediction followed the lecture, with about 
fifteen monk-priests assisting ; and I never felt 
more deeply the simple grandeur of these fa- 
miliar ceremonies. Perhaps, it was the music; 
perhaps the atmosphere; perhaps myself; but 
I enjoyed it all as if it were some new exper- 
ience for me; and, though I love the music of 
the masters, I am for the free Gregorian in our 
churches. 

THE CONFERENCE? 

No, I have not a word at this writing in re^. 
gard to the Peace Conference. I notice that 

— 74 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

President Wilson is arriving in Boston today, 
when, no doubt, even we back here will learn 
more than we have known, for, of course, he 
will now take the American people into his con- 
fidence, which, to me, seems to be the one thing* 
lacking over here — the people do not know. 

When I see the masters of diplomacy all 
gathered around the Peace Table, they seem 
somehow to be far removed from the war and 
what it has meant to the people; and I some- 
times think that, perhaps, the men, who did the 
fighting, should have a voice, or, at least, know 
what is going on. 



The Glorious Past of the Country. Kindly 
Courtesy of Great Statesman. 

1^ ARIS, Feb. 28. — This morning I have 
jS/ had the privilege of interviewing the 
.1-^ Prime Minister of Greece, M. Venize- 

los, one of the most interesting figures 
at the Peace Conference. I went to his hotel 
at the appointed hour, and was handed from 
guard to guard, until I reached a beautiful 
large salon flooded with sunlight, one of the 
gayest, most cheerful spots I have found in 
Paris. The walls were hung with rose satins, 
and the furnishings were arrayed in the same 
elegant material. There were many flowers 
around the room, several artistic screens placed 
about, and a grand piano in one corner. The 
only suggestion of business amidst the comfort 
and luxury was a great oblong table in the 
center of the room, all covered with books, pa- 
pers and pamphlets, dealing with the bewilder- 
ing Balkan questions. 

LIKES UNITED STATES. 

Almost immediately the great statesman en- 
tered. He has a personality of extraordinary 
charm. He was smiling cordially, and extend- 
ed his hand in greeting, as he came through 
the door. 

*'It always gives me great pleasure to send a 
message to the United States," he began at 
— 76 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

once, speaking in excellent English, ^'because I 
feel, that is, we all in Greece feel, that your 
country has been sympathetic from the first 
minute of our effort to cast off the rule of our 
ex-king — an autocrat. It was a fight for De- 
mocracy against Autocracy ; and we knew that 
America wished to see Democracy victorious." 

THE KING PRO-GERMAN. 

''We had difficult times in those days," con- 
tinued the Prime Minister, after a pause. "The 
king most impressively told the m^asses that, if 
Greece were to enter the war it should be as one 
of Germany's allies. It was incredible that the 
great German Empire should be defeated. En- 
trance on the side of the Allies would mean 
death for Greece, as it had for the other small 
nations. Had not Belgium, Serbia, and Rouma- 
nia been crushed? It was somewhat convinc- 
ing, but I fought hard that my country should 
enter the Great War in the cause of Justice; 
that we should fight for ideals ; that we should 
be with Democracy against Autocracy, even 
though it meant our defeat. I was called 'Ven- 
izelos the fool, the idealist, the visionary. ' Nev- 
ertheless, in the end we won out ! ' ' 

He stopped suddenly. A door behind him 
had slightly opened, and he arose to close it. 
I smiled, for he had been looking directly at 
me during the conversation ; but here was proof 
of his keen consciousness of everything in the 
whole room. 

FULL OF ENTHUSIASM. 

The Prime Minister is not, as one might 

— 77 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

expect, a Greek in appearance, except, perhaps, 
in the olive color of his skin. He has very white 
hair, white mustache and a heavy beard. His 
eyes are most interesting. They are kindly and 
gentle hut searching and full of enthusiasm 
while he talks. He sat down again, looking 
rather serious. 

*'Yes," he went on, *'the present political 
condition of Greece is very good and satisfac- 
tory, but my country suffers. ' ' 

He then told me of the food situation, which 
is very distressing. His people have meat only 
once a week ; and bread is very scarce. 

THE GREEK NATION. 

In the next few minutes — ^thanks to the sug- 
gestive powers of a brilliant conversationist, 
who has the happy faculty of drawing out one's 
own thought and memories, and vivifying them 
— I learned more about Greece and her people 
than I can ever relate. It is estimated that 
there are eight and a quarter million persons 
composing the Hellenic people, fifty-five per 
cent of whom live in the Kingdom of Greece, 
and the remainder outside its limits. In Thrace, 
including Constantinople, there are over seven 
hundred and thirty thousand Greeks. There is 
nearly a quarter million in Northern Epirus. 
There is almost a half million in Asia Minor, 
although it is thought that three hundred thou- 
sand Greeks, along with seven hundred thou- 
sand Armenians, were exterminated there dur- 
ing the war, besides another half million, prob- 
ably, that was expelled by the Turks during 
that time. Then, ''The Isles of Greece" are 
— 78 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

thoroughly Hellenic; and Greece desires them 
returned to her. The settlement of the Balkan 
Wars restored some of the islands, but some 
were excepted, ''for strategic reasons." Rhodes 
and the Dodecanese were assigned to Italy in 
the once secret, but now notorious, London 
Pact. 

THE FUTURE OF GREECE. 

I asked M. Venizelos about the extension of 
the Frontiers. He looked happy and said he 
hoped the territories claimed would be granted. 

"It will mean that many will be brought back 
under a Government of their own people. 
Great agricultural results will come from these 
lands, too. The future of Greece will be that 
of an agricultural nation, but, of course, we 
shall continue to be a Marine nation also. After 
all," here he smiled broadly, "have we not 
been sailors for thousands and thousands of 
years?" 

THE GLORIOUS PAST. 

That carried me back a long way, when the 
hardy adventurers of ancient Peloponnesia were 
carrying classic civilization through all the 
world, when the idea of democracy was first 
conceived by Greek philosophers. I recalled 
that M. Venizelos was Cretan born, and that 
the little island of his birthplace loomed big in 
history before Licurgus' time. As I regarded 
his radiant, impressive countenance, while he 
hurried on in his vivid portrayal of the charac- 
ter, the aims and aspirations of his people, I 
thought that he must be a living example of 
the human product natural to a country old in 
— 79 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

history, ricli in traditions, and washed on every 
side by the free waters of the sea. No wonder 
the Moslem power was broken, when it over- 
came the Greeks! One can hardly begrudge 
them the consolation of the happy thought that 
their unconquered spirit, disseminated by the 
fall of Constantinople, was the primary cause, 
that inspired the old world to search out a 
place where liberty could dwell. 

KINDLY COURTESY. 

But secretaries now began to bring in impor- 
tant looking papers, which appeared to need 
the immediate attention of the Minister ; and I 
made ready to leave. As he told me "Good 
morning, ' ' he asked me very simply and charm- 
ingly to forgive his bad English, which had 
been quite perfect, although he had occasional- 
ly resorted to French to express quickly and 
comprehensively some thought that his Eng- 
lish retarded. Before parting he said : 

**You seem interested in Greece. May I give 
you some literature I have prepared for the 
Peace Conference?" 

He walked into an adjoining office, and 
picked out several pamphlets. We shook hands 
again, and I left. I walked out past the the- 
atrical looking, gaily-colored, silk bloomered 
and turlbaned guards, thinking and convinced 
that Greece has in M. Yenizelos a great, sin- 
cere statesman, with a tremendous vision. 



Admiral Benson. Great Panorama of the 
World War. 

PARIS, March 7, 1919.— This week Ad- 
miral and Mrs. Benson called to see 
me. They are two perfectly delight- 
ful persons, cultured, polished, enter- 
taining, and as democratic as the tra- 
ditional genius of America. Fancy the Lord 
High Admiral of the British Empire, and his 
wife, making a social visit to a mere reporter- 
girl, even though her father happened to be an 
old friend. 

Admiral Benson would not allow himself to 
be *' interviewed" by me. ''No, no," he de- 
murred, when I suggested that I would like 
to repeat some of the very interesting things 
he told me; "we are only visiting, just 
'dropped in' you know, to see you and be re- 
membered to your father. ' ' But he is going to 
give me a "story" soon when I can see him at 
the Crillon, and more than that, he wiU try 
to get me an interview with Marshal Foch, 
with whom he is on intimate terms. The Mar- 
shal talks for publication, but very, very sel- 
dom; but, I feel sure, with the Admiral to in- 
troduce me, he will wish to send a message 
through the Catholic Press Association of 
America. 

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aLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

PATHS SEEMS LIKE ITSELF AGAIN. 

Paris seems like itself again. It is so divine- 
ly spring-like, with beautiful blue skies and 
bright shining sun; it is the cheerfulest place 
in the world — so it seems. One would never 
imagine, as the life of the spring unfolds here 
in the atmosphere of the gayest city of the 
world, that there is so much tragedy in the 
immediate past, and a possibility of even great- 
er tragedy in the near future. The days are 
gorgeous now, the air balmy and fine ; and, for 
the first time in four years, the homes, the 
streets, everything is being cleaned and 
brightened. Walls are being washed and 
painted white again, instead of the dull, drab 
gray they have worn so long. Carpets are 
brushing and mending and call bells are work- 
ing, and elevators are commencing to run. All 
the work is done by returned heroes, one-arm- 
ed, one-eyed, one-legged men; and sometimes 
th service is rather left-handed, but it is mar- 
velous at that, after all that France went 
through ! I look on and think, what a wonder- 
ful thing is the soul of such a people ! 

THE ALEXANDER BRIDGE. 

The weather drew everyone into the streets 
yesterday; and I v/alked through the boule- 
vards nearly the whole day. In the afternoon 
I went over the Alexander Bridge, a beautiful 
structure adorned with a number of great gold 
eagles and wonderful bronze lamps, named for 
one of the Russian Alexanders, I believe. Czar 
Nicholas came all the way to Paris, they say, 

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GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

to lay the first stone of the structure twenty 
odd years ago. The bridge connects the 
Champs with the Invalides. Four magnificent 
statues of France cover the approaches — the 
France of Charlemagne, the France of the Re- 
naissance, the France of Louis XIV and the 
France of the opening Twentieth Century 
(the structure was completed in 1900.) 

PANORAMIC PAINTING OF THE WAR. 

In full view of this historic ensemble is being 
painted an enormous panoramic scene or series 
of scenes, picturing the salient events of the 
war. This is being done by two artists Pierre 
Carrier-B'elleuse and Auguste-Francois Gor- 
guet, and seventeen assistants, who include the 
most celebrated detail artists, perhaps in Eu- 
rope. Although it has been in the making 
since the beginning of the war, the picture is 
far from complete. Imagine! it is three hun- 
dred and sixty feet long and forty-five feet 
high. It shows all the battlefields, and groups 
of the leading war figures of each nation, in 
the order they entered the war. It is really 
one of the most remarkable things I have ever 
seen; and, as it is very likely to be the most 
conspicuous record of the war that will be 
made anywhere, I venture to describe it some- 
what in detail, although I fully realize how 
imperfect must be the impression conveyed in 
a few brief words. 

CONTAINS THOUSANDS OF FIGURES. 

The War Pantheon {Le Pantheon de la 
Gmrre) as the panorama is called, is a work 
— 83 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

of glorification, conceived and begun imme- 
diately after the first victory of the Marne. 
It contains literally thousands of figures, each 
painted true to life (some from personal ac- 
quaintance of the artist, some from photo- 
graphs, some from descriptive documents.) 
There are officers of all ranks, soldiers of every 
nation, gunners, horsemen, aviators, sailors, 
all arranged on the steps of a huge stairs, 
above which, in an attitude of glorious triumph, 
towers the winged statue of Victory. Down 
at the foot of tlie statue, the French leaders 
are shown: Joffre, Foch, Petain, Castelnau, 
Nivelle, Pau, Mangin, d'Esperey. Near these, 
a little to the rear, are the portraits of Abbe 
Henocque and Abbe Andrieux, chaplains of 
the fusiliers, and, with them, some of the bish- 
ops of the invaded regions of France^ whose 
devotion and sacrifice and unbeaten courage, 
even in the darkest hour, are typical of the 
patriotism and the faith of Catholic France. 

WOMEN ARE THERE, TOO. 

Women are there, too, those who really took 
part in the war; nurses, clerks, assistants — 
some who were put at the head of the most 
important services of a town ; some, who were 
decorated with the cross of war. Their pres- 
ence is not only an act of justice, but a master- 
stroke of the artist, for it gives to the picture 
a warmth, a naturalness, a vividness that noth- 
ing else could give. The women are not 
grouped to themselves — another happy thought 
— but disposed among the soldiers, in positions 
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GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

where their very place tells their story. The 
noble, heroic woman, who was decorated for 
seventy-two hours constant nursing of the sol- 
diers, being brought in from one grim battle- 
field, for example, is near the commander of 
the French forces, that finally carried the day; 
near the aviator who was a chief factor in that 
attack, while the other leading actors of that 
particular battle are grouped around. One in- 
stantly recalls the whole terrible scene. 

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. 

In front of the French officers, chaplains, 
bishops, women, soldiers, and sailors, that 
crowd the stairway to the very summit, with 
figures everywhere, but all distinct, with no 
vacant space but plenty of air, with colors all 
different but never blurred, all blending softly 
with the infinitely deep-looking blue that dom- 
inates, and crowned with a magnificent rain- 
bow that extends over Golden-v/inged Victory 
as if it were a promise and a covenant of the 
days to come — in front of this picture, quite 
near the spectator, on the immense platform 
from which the great stair rises, is a numerous 
group of government and civilian officials, with 
the President of France in front. And, at last, 
immediately on the foreground, ''looking at 
you" is one of the glorious 75 's, with Colonel 
Deport, the immortal designer, standing be- 
side. 

ALLIES ON THE FLANKS. 

Such is the picture of France, the central 
group, which gives the artists' theme. On 
-s-85 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

each side, in the order in which they came into 
the struggle, are groups representing all of 
the nations allied and associated with France 
during the war: England, with Miss Cavell as 
one of the chief features in the group, and 
whom I noticed even before King George or 
Lloyd George ; Belgium, with Cardinal Mercier 
dominating the scene; America, with Wilson 
and Pershing in the foreground, but with Sec- 
retary of War Baker and Secretary Daniels 
prominent, of course ; Italy, China, Japan, and 
all the others; so that as one looks upon the 
immense panorama, one realizes, as never be- 
fore, that it was truly a world war. 



Interesting Interview with John 'Kelly, Sinn 

Fein Delegate to the Peace Conference. 

An Engaging Personality. 

T?V ARIS, March 15. — Sometime ago Mr. 
12/ 'Kelly arrived in Paris, and an- 
JL© nounced that he is here as a represent- 

ative of the Sinn Fein to the Peace 
Conference from the Eepublic of Ireland. Natur- 
ally very much interested, I hastened to secure 
an interview with him, which was not difficult 
to obtain, as he is an extremely democratic man, 
and, of course, not unwilling to speak a word 
for his cause at every opportunity. Needless 
to say, he is typically Irish. It is interesting to 
note that he always spells his name "O'Ceal- 
laigh," true to the Gaelic, and puts the more 
familiar form "0 'Kelly" in parenthesis un- 
derneath. 

The Sinn Fein representative is the most con- 
servative, quiet sort of person one could im- 
agine, with delightfully low voice and that 
charming Irish brogue one cannot but love to 
hear. In the most casual manner possible, he 
says all the seditious things one expects, and 
only disappoints one in the way he says them. 

HUMBLE QUARTERS. 

There is a striking difference between his 
surroundings and those of others, whom I had 
— ST — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

the privilege of interviewing while here. He 
does not occupy an entire floor of spacious 
salons and offices, with guards at the doors, 
secretaries flitting around, and messengers 
dashing in and out. Instead, he himself opened 
the door for me, and I walked into a narrow lit- 
tle single room, where there were two chairs, 
with one window looking out upon the court. 

NO WORD FROM WILSON. 

He began by telling me that Dublin had of- 
fered the freedom of the city to President Wil- 
son, by regular act of the Assembly. At first 
they wrote letters to Mr. Wilson; later, they 
sent him telegrams ; and the Irish people, deep- 
ly interested as they were, could not under- 
stand his failure to reply to any communica- 
tion they had sent. This was the principal 
reason for Mr. 'Kelly being sent to Paris, 
where he could secure a personal interview 
with the illustrious spokesman of the great Re - 
public, whom the Irish people looked to as the 
champion of small nations. Before the Presi- 
dent sailed for the States, Mr. 'Kelly had 
made three efforts to see him at the Murat 
Palace, but had not succeeded. 

TELLS OP EASTER UPRISING. 

I inquired if he was in Dublin during the 
Easter Rebellion. He was. In giving me a de- 
scription of the fighting, in which he quite sim- 
ply observed that he had been wounded three 
times, he compared the wreckage with the ruin 
of the devastated cities of Europe, saying that 
— 88 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

if I had seen these, I could form a good idea 
of 'Connell Street during those days. It was 
entirely shattered. And it was his opinion that 
another outbreak was not unlikely, if the Irish 
situation continues to be entirely ignored, as, 
at present, there are something like a quarter 
million English troops garrisoned in Ireland,, 
which, though there to prevent an outbreak, 
are a constant irritant, like the immense war 
machines of Europe used to be, though they, 
too, were prepared ''to make war impossible." 
On leaving him, Mr. 'Kelly pressed upon 
me not to fail to see him after some of the 
clouds had lifted from his country, when he 
could speak more certainly of her future in 
the family of nations of the world. 
THE HOSPITALS. 
I must tell you of my visits to the hospitals, 
especially that to Hospital No. 57, which I 
visited in company with Mr. Thomas McLaugh- 
lin, of Newark, N. J. This hospital, before the 
war, v/as a great rambling university, on the 
other side of the river from and looking over 
the Luxemburg gardens. It is a perfectly de- 
lightful spot, if one could but disassociate the 
surroundings from one's ever-clinging con- 
sciousness of what they within must suffer. 
There are nine hundred beds accommodated 
here. During the war the capacity was strain- 
ed to fifteen hundred. The place was built on 
the old French courtyard plan; and, in those 
rush days, the very yards were filled with beds, 
to say nothing of the halls and corridors and 
other available space. 

—-89 — 



ailMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

*'DADDY K.-€." 

The day of my visit, every one of tlie nine 
kundred beds was filled. The spirit of the men 
was splendid, and they were delighted with 
our coming. I fully realized how popular are 
the men of the K. C. organization. They would 
call out to Mr. McLaughlin, as soon as they 
mw his uniform, calling him "Daddy 
K. C," and speaking of him as their "best 
friend." Mr. McLaughlin is an excellent hos- 
pital man, with always some clever story to 
tell, or a cheerful passing word to the sick. 

We distributed chocolates, cigarettes, Satur- 
day Evening Posts and Chicago Tribunes. (The 
latter is especially popular with the men, be- 
cause each copy has, across the top, the legend, 
"GET THE BOYS HOME TOOT SUITE.") 
We would talk to the men freely, as we went 
through ; I think we talked to almost every one. 
And of all the questions, and stories, and mes- 
sages sent, — it would require a book to relate 
them. 

WHAT A SPIRIT! 

One little, dark, fuzzy-headed Italian rose up 
in bed, when we approached, and exclaimed: 
"Lady, I have nineteen pieces of shrapnel in 
me ! " It seemed to be a matter of great pride 
to him. It occurred to me as, at least, of some 
importance. He insisted that I should run my 
hand over his arm over several black, pro- 
jecting points, which were some of the nineteen 
aot yet removed. He told me all about himself, 
and how he had helped to do our fighting, 
— 90 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE COJSfFERENCE 

although he was not even naturalized, and 
could hardly speak English. He was at Cha- 
teau Thierry and up in the Argonne, where 
they "got him;" and he seemed to be immense- 
ly glad of it all. I thought : what a spirit ! 

NATIONAL CATHOLIC WAR COUNCIL CLUB. 

The Catholic activities here are very, very 
popular. At the National Catholic War Coun- 
cil Club (Etoile Service Club,) everything is 
delightful. It is a beautiful house, filled with 
lovely paintings and rich tapestries. The 
dainty gold chairs, that once, so appropriat- 
ly, sat about the rooms, have been replaced 
with large, stout, comfortable chairs, that one 
can sit in without being awfully timid about 
it; and long tables, with low writing lamps, 
complete the furnishings. 

At one of these tables, on my last visit, a 
girl was writing letters for one of the men, who 
could not write XX (I learned that, likewise, 
he could not read) and it looked most paradox- 
ical that this man, a great handsome man of 
about forty years, should have come from 
America. It is such little services, like helping 
him to communicate with his folks at home, 
that count for so much and are worth so much, 
while they cost so little. The Service Club is 
run on some kind of canteen plan ; and, in 
addition to the ever-present cigarettes, thje 
men can have candy, chocolate, tea and coffee, 
with buiscuits and the like, whenever they wish 
them. 

Already, the Catholic Club is very well 
— 91 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

known, and I think tlie Sunday morning break- 
fasts will make it famous. Only last Sunday, 
Mrs. Miller alone cooked pancakes for over a 
hundred men, returning from Communion at 
St. Joseph, which is just around the corner. 
Now, this is the latest Catholic activity; and, 
like all the others, it goes ''over the top" the 
first thing in winning popularity. The N. C. 
"W. C. girls, including Miss Gertrude Egan, 
now of Memphis, Tenn., but formerly of Louis- 
ville, Ky., arrived only Friday. I had dinner 
that night with them. They "took hold" at 
once. It is quite remarkable how adaptable 
we are, at times, isn't it? 

And there is no foretelling the possible re- 
sults of these Catholic activities, here in 
France, which is in some ways, perhaps, the 
most irreligious place in the world, while in 
others the most prayerful, soulful, faithful. 



Catholie Settlement Complicated. Seems 

Strange to Americans. Contact 

With Americans Helpful. 



^t' 



ARIS, Mar. 24.— This is a real, old-fash- 
ion, school-day "Blue Monday" in 
Paris. Everything one hears is de- 
pressing; everybody one talks with 
speaks disouragingly. And it seems so strange, 
in a way; for it is bright and cheerful over- 
head, and the streets are crowded v/ith gay 
throngs, that seem all aburst with the spirit 
of Spring. I suppose we should be reminded by 
this contrast that it was never intended for all 
things on earth to be heavenly. When I came 
over, for weeks and weeks together it was dark 
and raining, until I sometimes fancied the sun 
would never again shine. Most everj^body and 
everything were dreadfully gloomy. The one 
bright spot then was the Peace Conference and 
its environs, if I may put it that way. Now all 
is changed; nature has preened herself up 
brightly, but the prospects of peace look dismal. 
Hungary has surrendered to the Bolsheviks; 
Italy threatens to withdraw from the parley; 
and we hear dark rumors of the Japanese mak- 
ing trouble, if racial equality is not guaranteed 
in the final world pact now being discussed. 
Many other disturbing rumors abound. They 
have been springing up for weeks, and today, 
, — 93 — 



aLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

it seems, the whole accumulation was dumped 
by the news gatherers on the unsuspecting pub- 
lic. 

UNREST GROWS. 

In the meanwhile, several days have elapsed 
since Mr. Wilson's arrival on his second trip 
over, and nothing seems accomplished. The 
'* Council of Ten" has given way to a "Council 
of Four," with Japan, for some reason, elimi- 
nated. Daily conferences are being held among 
Wilson, Lloyd Ceorge, Clemenceau and Orlan- 
do, but no hint of their conclusions is given out 
or seems to "leak" out. And the unrest grows. 

You get all this in the news dispatches, of 
course, but it is impossible to get the atmos- 
phere that way. Nor can I describe this so as 
to eonYey anything like a true impression. But 
one cannot be here without feeling it, especially 
if one is trying to carry in mind and group and 
draw some conclusion from all one hears. 

AMBRrCANS AND BRITISH UNWORRIED. 

The Americans seem to be the least disturbed 
of any among the Conference "environs;" they 
have had prior experience with the nothing- 
seems-accomplished state of Mr. Wilson's pol- 
icy, and, in spite of the blue-black prospects the 
reporters have managed to throw upon the can- 
vass, they carry an air of sang froid, as though 
they expected the President, one of these fine 
mornings, to appear in some balcony and cool- 
ly announce : ' ' The thing is done ! ' ' 

I must say, however, that the British, too, 
wear a satisfied air, but it seems to be a differ- 
— 94 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ent sort of satisfaction, as if they were asking : 
"Well, what are you going to do about it? 
Take it or leave it ; the matter scarcely interests 
us." And, really, I wonder if this is not a 
rather effective combination impression, the 
assumption, on the one hand, that it will be so, 
and, on the other, that it will be right. 

Possibly before this letter reaches you, the 
whole situation will change; certainly it must 
change before so very long, because, as matters 
are, it is very tense and everything is strained. 

INTERESTS OF RELiaiON. 

Like the interests of State, the interests of 
the Church, also, are deeply involved. Alsace- 
Lorraine is disturbed over the insistent de- 
mands of the old anti-clericals that the Act of 
Separation be applied to the restored Prov- 
inces. 

Sometime ago the Minister of the Interior, 
M. Faure, wrote the Prefect of Tarn to dis- 
cover whether or not a "Diocesan Missionary" 
was not concealing under this title the fact 
that he is a member of the Third Order of St. 
Francis, which was dissolved by the Combes' 
Cabinet, of which M. Faure was head. La 
Croix took this as a clear indication that the 
Government proposes to renew the persecution 
of the Religious Orders. The appointment of 
M. Debierre as Commissioner of Education for 
the Provinces was not regarded as reassuring, 
since he has frankly made war on the Church, 
on religion, in fact, for many years. 
OPPORTUNITY FOR FRENCH GOVERNMENT. 

On the other hand, the visit of Cardinal Arch- 
— 95 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

bishop Amette to Rome, occurring at this time, 
is considered a most promising event, as he 
goes with at least the tacit consent, if not the 
good will, of the Government. There seem to 
be some technicalities, by which, if it wishes, 
the Government may hold the Provinces of Al- 
sace-Lorraine exempt from the operation of 
the Act of Separation, without, at the same 
time, acknowledging it should be inoperative in 
the rest of France. M. Armand Lods, member 
of the Executive Commission of the Lutheran 
Church of France, and one time Professor of 
Ecclesiastical and Civil Law in the Faculty of 
Protestant Theology, has called attention, in a 
published article, to a precedent that will af- 
ford the Government its opportunity in this re- 
spect. 

A PRECEDENT. 

"When Louis XIV reunited Alsace with 
France," says M. Lods, "he took a solemn oath 
to respect liberty of worship in that province. 
By the treaties of Muenster and Osnabrueck 
(known as the treaty of Westphalia) and the 
Capitulation of Strassburg, the possession of 
ecclesiastical property was confirmed to the 
Lutheran and Reformed churches of Alsace, 
and the Decrees of 1870 excepted, from the sale 
of national property, the property belonging 
to the Protestants of Alsace. Our Government 
must follow these precedents." 

CATHOLIC iSETTLBMENT COMPLICATED. 

The writer admits, however, that "the settle- 
ment of Catholic affairs is more complicated, 
— 96 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

as the Holy See forbade the formation of * reli- 
gious associations' (as provided in the Act of 
Separation) in France, and will not permit 
their formation in Alsace." But, after point- 
ing out that, in default of these ' ' associations, ' ' 
the property of the Church falls into the hands 
of ' ' Charity Commissioners, " or in plain terms 
is confiscated, he adds that "Nobody could tol- 
erate such a spoliation of the Catholics of Al- 
sace on the morrow of their reunion with 
France." 

SEEMS STRANGE TO AN AMERICAN. 

It all seems so strange to a traveler from 
America where, except for a few cranky persons 
here and there, we take religious liberty as a 
matter of course. It is quite beyond me. Frank- 
ly, I am at times inclined to lose sympathy 
with Catholics, who cannot care better for 
themselves, but then I remember that in many 
other respects the institutions here are not like 
those at home. The ballot is not so direct, public 
opinion is not so widespread, and independence 
is not so much a matter of habit, while politics 
is far more radical in its issues, or at least 
has been. We in America are all agreed on our 
form of government, but not so here. The 
things most agitated here were settled with us 
long ago. The people of France — the masses, 
I mean — scarcely ever think about tariffs or 
subsidies or division of power, such as ours be- 
tween Federal and State governments, or most 
other "issues" in American politics of the past. 
They are Monarchists or Republicans or of 
some other designation signifying an equally 
— 97 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENVM 

fundamental idea of government that, perhaps 
because it is so radically important, claims 
their unconditional support. 

ASSOCIATING WITH AMERICANS HELPING 
FRENCH. 

This complicates matters to a degree that 
makes most every question of French Govern- 
ment very difficult to understand in the light 
of American customs and ideals, and it excites 
anew one 's sympathy for the French Catholics, 
many of whom, in spite of Leo XIII 's Encycli- 
cal addressed to them, have been deceived into 
believing that the Church is opposed to Repub- 
lican Government. Naturally, since coming in 
contact with large numbers of Americans who 
are devoutly Catholic while thoroughly repub- 
lican, and who find mutual helpfulness instead 
of antagonism between the two, they are fast 
escaping their previous delusion; and, if the 
Peace Conference will only settle things, and 
ward off the menace of Bolshevism, and give 
the people an opportunity to think without hav- 
ing to think for their very lives, the American 
example of Catholicism will grow in its impres- 
siveness, and, by and by, one ventures to hope, 
France will be Catholic again. 



The Rapid Development and Splendid Work 
of Our Navy. 

r?\ ARIS, Apr. 4.— There is no little talk 
j^J in certain circles here in respect to the 
Ls attitude of the American Government 

towards our ranking officers in the 
Army and Navy, which is regarded by many 
as being highly ungrateful. They say, 
for example, that Admirals Benson and Sims, 
when they return to America, will automatical- 
ly be reduced in rank as well as pay; and, to 
the people over here, that seems to be an inex- 
cusable injustice, after all they have done, for 
it is recognized by all that the American Navy 
was an important — possibly a deciding — factor 
in the war ; and the thought uppermost in minds 
here is: Who, if not these men, and especially 
Admiral Benson, the Chief of American Naval 
Operations, is entitled to the credit ? Of course, 
the Admirals themselves do not give expression 
to their feeling, but they are human, and sure- 
ly must anticipate with disappointment the re- 
ward, that awaits them at the hands of their 
Government. 

APPRECIATED IN EUROPE. 

In the States we are accustomed to think of 
our Navy and the Secretary of the Navy to- 
gether, as if he were really in charge of our 
sea forces, and, certainly, before the war. Sec- 
retary Daniels was the butt of much criticism, 
— 99 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

which, perhaps, accounts for Admiral Benson, 
Chief of Naval Operations, as well as Admiral 
Sims and other Naval officers, and even the 
sailors, being in a large degree obscured in the 
desire of the press to make up for the past. 
But it is quite different over here, where the 
part of our Navy in checking the submarine, 
bringing food to Europe and finally the men, 
is more keenly appreciated, and the activities 
of Admirals Benson and Sims are better 
known. Especially in the case of Admiral Ben- 
son, who, as highest ranking Officer of the 
American Navy, even had he not represented 
the United States on the Inter-Allied Naval 
Commission or in drawing the Armistice terms 
that put an end to German naval power, would 
be looked on as deserving of all praise for the 
splendid condition and remarkable work of our 
sea forces in the war. When, moreover, he is 
one of the most energetic and trusted members 
of the Supreme War Council, where his word, 
as all here know, carries the very greatest 
weight, one need not add that he is a war fig- 
ure, of whom Americans may all feel justly 
proud. 

FRANCE TO HONOR THEM. 

I have everj^ reason to know of the great es- 
teem, in which the Continent holds the Chief 
of American Naval Operations, who, with the 
British Lord High Admiral stands next to Mar- 
shal Foch among the leaders of the greatest 
fighting forces ever assembled on land and sea. 
On all hands it is heard that France is only 
waiting for some recognition of his distin- 
— 100 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

guislied service from his own country, before 
she would ask him to accept some special honor 
at her hands, though it is past all understand- 
ing how these things manage to get out, and it 
is impossible to learn with certainty what 
foundation they have. B^t I do hope that Pres- 
ident Wilson or Congress or whoever must take 
the initiative, perhaps Secretary Daniels, will 
soon make it possible for Admiral Benson, and 
Admiral Simms also, to receive the distinction, 
that is their due, and retain the rank and sal- 
ary, that they so richly deserve. 

"THE SERVICE." 

In the meantime I must be telling something 
of what I have learned regarding Admiral Ben- 
son, who, by the way, seldom gives out anything 
for publication. It is a way with the Navy 
men, it seems, and most of the regular Army 
men, too; they utterly dislike the faintest ap- 
pearance of exploiting themselves. It is all in 
the way of "the service." My! but they are 
devoted! The British Admiralty is only now 
beginning to disclose something of its work; 
and no doubt it will be a long, long time before 
the complete story is known. Our Navy De- 
partment is scarcely less reticent, and our 
officers not a bit less so, and the public cannot 
imagine the extent or the nature of all that they 
have achieved, and cannot, of course, appre- 
ciate it as they would, if only they knew. 

AMERICAN CONFIDENCE IN NAVY. 

One thing, which Admiral Benson seems very 
proud of, is that the American public, though 
— 101 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

it may not accord full credit to their Navy, 
which he perfectly well understands, never for 
a moment lost confidence in its being able to 
cope with the situation, whether it was feeding 
all Europe in the teeth of the submarine men- 
ace, or furnishing all the munitions to fight, 
or doing both at once, and adding two or three 
millions to the Army at the same time. Even 
in England, where the traditional idea of com- 
plete dependence on Naval operations is more 
pronounced than anywhere else on earth, there 
was a sinking of public confidence more than 
one time during the war ; and once it became so 
noticeable that the Premier himself, in one of 
his most vigorous speeches during the climax of 
it all, appealed to the people to give the Navy 
the credit that it rightly deserved. That such 
an appeal wais not called for in our country 
was doubtless in part due to the Admiral's re- 
quest, made, at the very outset, to the entire 
American press, which, in spite of their pre- 
vious joshing of the Secretary of the Navy, 
brought them to the support of the department 
in a most cordial fashion. 

QUICK ACTION. 

The Admiral first came to Europe, after we 
went in, on the Colonel House mission, when 
the Inter- Allied Naval Commission was formed. 
Already we had taken an active part in the sub- 
marine chasing. In fact, less than thirty days 
after we declared war, Admiral Sims' flotilla 
of U-boat destroyers arrived at Queenstown 
and went into immediate service, while the first 
American gun had been fired two weeks before 
— 102 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

that, hy the Mongolia, which, with a single shot, 
smashed the periscope and killed the command- 
er of a German sub-marine. 

RAPID DEVELOPMENT. 

As soon as the Inter- Allied Commission was 
formed, it was agreed that the United States 
would furnish a certain given number of de- 
stroyers, chasers, submarines, mines, aircraft, 
and of all the other numerous divisions of the 
Naval forces, including the Marines; and, that 
first contribution agreed on, though I may not 
give the figures, was perhaps greater than the 
whole American Navy was generally supposed 
to be ; for at the outbreak of the war, in 1914, 
we had only eight dreadnaughts, about twenty 
pre-dreadnaughts, twenty-five cruisers, fifty 
destroyers and a naval man strength of about 
sixty-five thousand officers and men. 

Some idea of the development done after- 
wards may be gathered from the conditions 
shown in last year's report of the Department, 
which gave nearly one-half million as the num- 
ber of officers, sailors and Marines in the ser- 
vice, all of whom are volunteers, and showed 
thirty new steel shipyards, over two hundred 
shipbuilding ways and over three hundred 
launching ways. One of these shipyards alone 
had a capacity of over a million and a half 
deadweight tons output per year, which is fifty- 
five per cent of the greatest amount of tonnage 
ever turned out in the whole British Empire in 
one year. 

Details as to the number, the class or the kind 
of United States Naval craft, may not be given, 
- — 103 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

but I am reliably informed that a year ago the 
United States was building more destroyers 
than any two navies of the world had three 
years before. Another striking comparison is, 
that, from the beginning of the American Navy 
in 1794 until 1916, a hundred and twenty-two 
years, our country spent for all naval purposes, 
a great deal less money than we have spent in 
the little more than two years since. 

EXTRAORDINARY CAPACITY. 

I cannot help but wonder at the capacity of a 
man, who is Chief of Naval Operations conduct- 
ed on such a tremendous scale, who sits at all 
the meetings of the Supreme War Cauncil, who 
must keep in his mind a very multitude of act- 
ivities, in order to co-ordinate the movements 
of the Shipping Board, the War Trade Board, 
the Food Supply Board, Ordnance and Muni- 
tion Departments, not to mention the transpor- 
tation of the greatest force of soldiers ever sent 
overseas. 

BOUND FOR HOME. 

Next week I shall go to Rome. It is arranged 
that I may see the Holy Father in private aud- 
ience, which is an opportunity I would not let 
pass. I shall write from the ancient city, al- 
though perhaps but little, for one's time, how- 
ever long, is short in Rome ; and it is now eight 
years passing since, with my parents, I was 
there. Upon my return to Paris, let us hope, 
there will be news of the Peace Conference, 
which now, so far as anything definite goes, is 
quite moribund. 

— 104 — 



Received In Audience. Successful Knights of 
Columbus Club. 

ROME, Apr. 10.— We left Paris Saturday 
afternoon on a kind of special train, 
that goes straight through to Rome, 
and which carries a sleeper, something 
that is quite a luxury over here in these times, 
when most all traveling is in the way of sitting 
up all night in a stuffy little compartment. War 
I had almost forgotten in Paris — the beautiful 
spring sunshine and re-enlivened gaities were 
pushing it so far into the past — but it came 
back very forcefully when we had to leave our 
berths at 2:00 a. m., pack the luggage, gather 
up our passports and join a sleepy line of other 
travelers out on the platform in the cold, dark 
night. We were on the French and Italian bor- 
der ; and there our permission to enter Italy had 
to be ratified. 

SUNNY ITALY. 

On awakening the next morning, we were 
running right alongside of the inimitably blue 
Mediterranean, where we had an excellent view 
of those high, rough and rugged promontories 
that jut out into it, and on the other side those 
beautiful quiet Italian hillsides. The shelf-like 
arrangement of the hills and the charming pale 
coral-colored houses with the pastel green shut- 
ters, on the very slopes of the hillside, all pre- 
sented a most delightful scene. It was just hap- 
— 105 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

py, colorful Italy again. Passing through Pisa 
in the afternoon, where we caught a fine view 
of the Leaning Tower, we arrived in Rome at 
10:00 o'clock that night. 

CONPEiSSlON AT MIDNIGHT. 

Near midnight a chaplain came to the hotel 
and heard our confession in order that we might 
attend Mass at the Vatican the following morn- 
ing; and next morning we were passing the 
Swiss Guards into the Vatican by a quarter be- 
fore 7:00. I had heard that there are eleven 
thousand rooms in this vast building or palace 
— ^for it is a series of buildings linked together 
and connected by an interminable labyrinth of 
spacious rooms and corridors — and I certainly 
believe it. I was never in so many courtyards, 
wide halls, grand stairwaj^s up and down ; and 
oh ! the number of guards and servants ! 

Somehow there was a hitch in our arrange- 
ments ; and all our pleadings to attend the Holy 
Father's Mass were met with respectful but 
very firm refusals. Finally, in spite of the ear- 
ly hour when it seemed a shame to awaken one, 
I resorted to Archbishop Cerritti, to whom I 
had a letter from our own Archbishop Bonzano ; 
and he immediately obtained for us the desired 
favor, and later gave us every counsel and as- 
sistance in our audience with the Holy Father, 
which was arranged for Thursday. 

AT THE HOLY FATHER'S MASS. 

The Holy Father's Mass this morning was 
not attended by any solemn ceremonies — just 
— 106 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

a low Mass, which really, according to one's 
mood, may be the most devotional of all Mass- 
es. It was immediately followed by another 
low Mass of thanksgiving, during which the 
Holy Father knelt on a prie-dieu in the chancel. 
The Holy Father's Mass was offered for French 
widows, of whom there were some seventy-five 
present. All received Holy Communion, Mrs. 
Gebhard, who was with me, and myself wearing 
over our heads, as the conventions require, little 
black veils, which made us appear very much 
at home with the bereaved women. 

THE PAPAL CHAPEL. 

The simple but striking beauty of the chapel, 
and perhaps, even more the comforting rest- 
fulness of its atmosphere were, I must confess, 
somewhat distracting. It is of rather small 
size, done in rich cardinal red with pale yellow 
silk hangings at the windows, which are on 
each side of the altar, and through which bright 
cheering rays of sunshine spread out over the 
whole chapel. On the plahi side walls are 
hanging cabinets, containing the rarest collec- 
tion of old silver and gold sacred vessels, that 
is to be seen anywhere in the world. The pews 
are wooden but very ornately carved with lux- 
urious kneeling cushions and elbow rests, all 
red velvet. Everything within the chapel pre- 
sents an air of such undisturbable serenity and 
simple though lovely beauty, that it is very, 
very charming, and very prayerful, too. 

During the next two days, while waiting for 
our audience with the Holy Father, we had time 
again to see some of the interesting beautiful 
— 107 — 



&LIMP8E8 OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

things, that are so plentiful about Rome. We 
saw those wonderful St. Mark's horses the day 
before they returned to Venice after their safe- 
keeping in Rome during the bombardment of 
Venice. They were in the courtyard, just oppo- 
site the Victor Emmanuel Memorial. This mem- 
orial is worth seeing itself, although it is yet 
unfinished. When completed, it will have cost 
some fifty million dollars. We climbed to its 
very top, where one has a splendid view of the 
city. Below I could see miserable living con- 
ditions, where thousands of persons, lean and 
hungry-looking live all crowded together in 
squalid buildings, that surround this mammoth 
statue of marble — one-tenth of which would be 
too much for a memorial to a King, when his 
people face distress, if not disaster. 

We went to the Trappist monastery, which 
to me is perhaps of all places the most interest- 
ing in Rome. We visited the chapel where St. 
Paul was beheaded and the three fountains 
sprang suddenly from the ground. And, oh, 
the lovely magnificent old gardens that we saw ! 

WONDERFUL ST. CLEMENT CiHURCH. 

The Church of St. Clement is very impressive. 
It is a splendid old Church of the eleventh cen- 
tury. In 1860 an Irish priest discovered under- 
neath it another complete church, dating from 
the fourth century ; and later there was discov- 
ered beneath the fourth century church the 
very house of Pope St. Clement of even the 
first century. Is not this truly wonderful? 

When the day for our audience with the Holy 
Father arrived, a general strike of all divisions 
— 108 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

of labor had been declared for twenty-four 
hours. It was a simple Bolshevik! venture, aim- 
ed to try out their strength and to be a general 
protestation to the Government about labor con- 
ditions. Every sort of trouble was expected on 
that day; and the one hundred and fifty cards 
of admission for audience with the Holy Father 
had all been canceled. Our special private aud- 
ience, however, was not prevented, although we 
had to walk through rain for one hour and a 
half, almost the whole distance from one side 
of the city to the other in order to reach the 
Vatican. You see, the strike had stopped all 
manner of conveyance for the day; and every- 
one had to walk regardless of one's mission. I 
felt almost as if I were on a pilgrimage, and 
that the only thing lacking was a staff. 

RECEIVED IN AUDIENCE. 

We were received in one of the small rooms 
of the Pope's own apartment. The Holy Fa- 
ther speaks no English at all, but excellent 
French, of course; and through this medium 
I asked him for his blessing and for a message 
to the Catholic Press for the Catholic people of 
America. He was most kind, most gracious and 
generous with his blessing, which he gave to 
me, to the Catholic Press, the Catholic people 
and all the people of my Country, especially 
for all the sacrifices they had made during the 
•^ar. Tliis was for me the great adventure. 

Today we returned to the Vatican to receive 
the autograph picture of the Holy Father, that 
he had told us would be waiting for us. To- 
night, directly in fact, we leave Rome, and start 
, — 109 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

on our return to Paris by way of the French 
Riviera. 

BUOCESSFUL K.-C. CLUB 

I have yet a little time, in which to mention 
the very successful Ejiights of Columbus Club 
here. A great many soldiers come to Rome on 
their leave ; and the Club is very convenient to 
them. If they wish, they can stay there, as it 
has sleeping accommodations for about one hun- 
dred and fifty. There is also an excellent can- 
teen service. Breakfast is regularly served; 
and the club has the reputation of making the 
best coffee in Rome. It has also a very conve- 
nient arrangement of delightful sight-seeing 
trips, that may be taken each day with a guide. 



Profiteering. People Dissatisfied. The Govern- 
ment Criticized. 

p^ ARIS, April 20, 1919.— My first *'vaca- 
1^ tion" since coming over on this mis- 
-fi-® sion for the Catholic Press, was spent 

in two delightful days at Nice, on the 
way returning from Rome to Paris. The flow- 
ers were in full bloom, the trees heavy-laden 
with foliage, the sushine glorious, and every- 
thing bright and green and fairly teeming with 
freshness and life. Nice reminds one very strik- 
ingly of Atlantic City, in its position and front, 
with its long drive-way facing the ocean, but in 
other respects they are not of the same type at 
all. And really, I suppose there is only one 
Atlantic City in the world. 

The most alluring beauty of Nice — at least, 
to me — is seen in the mountains, that rise high 
up in small points just behind the village, as 
if inviting one, in their grand and stately way, 
to come and rest forever, there, where the sea 
waves kiss their feet. The place is one of the 
most popular of all ''leave" points. The 
KJiights of Columbus have a club there, not 
with sleeping quarters, canteen or the like, 
but simply a meeting place with reading room 
and writing facilities, all very convenient and 
enjoyable, 

THE PADEREWSKIS. 

Arriving in Paris on my return, I found a 
— 111 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

delightful surprise awaiting me. The Paderew- 
skis, whom I have known for some years, were 
here at the hotel. I had a very pleasant chat 
with Mr. Paderewski, busy as he is, but will 
not have a story from him until a little later. 

The Premier of Poland has aged a great deal 
which, perhaps, gives him some advantage in 
his present position. He carries this with splen- 
did grace, as one to-the-manner-born, and the 
*' secretariat" accompanying him adds an im- 
posing appearance, it is so large. This is the 
case with all of the plenipotentiaries ; they each 
have a perfect army of specialists, experts, sec- 
retaries, guards, servants and I know not what. 
It is quite a mystery to me Kow they keep up 
with themselves and their various contingents, 
not to mention their keeping tab on the others, 
which they do not fail to do, or at least try to 
do, guessing at whatever they can not learn 
for a certainty, and usually guessing the worst. 

SECRETARY BAKER. 

Another very great pleasure was in store for 
me on my return ; Secretary of War Baker had 
sent to find out when I could see him, as he had 
a message from my father. I hurried to the 
Crillon where he was making haste to depart, 
for this was the first intimate word from my 
parents since I came over. Of course, I was 
glad to see Secretary Baker himself, although 
I did not expect to have him say anything I 
might use in a letter, which he did not, except 
to tell me that he came over on the question 
of war expenses, which they are trying to settle 
to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned. 
— 112 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

MR. BARUCH'S VISIT. 

Although Mr. Baker did not tell me, I knew 
of Mr. Baruch 's visit over for the same purpose 
sometime before. It is said that, when he ar- 
rived, the French Premier sent for him and told 
him — in diplomatic language of the choicest 
selection, of course — that it would be a good 
idea to pool the cost of the war and have all 
the nations bear an equal share of the immense 
sum, but it seems that he failed to impress Mr. 
Baruch. In fact, notwithstanding the perfect- 
ly evident way, in which it would simplify such 
an important matter as book-keeping, Mr. Ba- 
ruch demurred. He, perhaps, was not quite so 
eloquent, and could hardly be so cleverly dip- 
lomatic, as the French Premier, but it is said 
that he managed to convey the impression that 
it was "no go." The next day it was quite 
definitely rumored that the French Grovernment 
had sent a notice to Mr. Wilson that, in view of 
the fact that Mr. Baruch 's father had been born 
in Germany, his presence was not desired in 
France, and Mr. Wilson had replied with unus- 
ual promptness, conveying the idea in plain 
terms that, when Mr. Baruch left France, the 
whole American Commission would go with 
him, which ended the matter. 

ANXIETY OF THE FRENCH. 

This incident goes to illustrate the deep anx- 
iety of the French people, or at any rate, the 
French Government, over the financial state of 
the country, which has given rise to an unusual 
though perhaps unavoidable dilemma, and that 
is, the Government feels that it must secure ev- 
— 113 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ery possible reparation from Germany and wish- 
es at tlie same time to destroy her power to 
make money on a great scale. It is a case 
of killing the hen without depriving one of the 
golden egg. It is the imperative, undeniable 
present against the fearful, almost certain fu- 
ture, with both threatening disaster. 

Germany can not be reduced to that state of 
impotence, where she will no longer be a con- 
stant and growing danger to France, unless 
she is at the same time stripped of everything 
that would enable her to pay damages to any 
great extent or in anything like the sum neces- 
sary to give relief. To determine the line of de- 
parture, as it were, and find out just how much 
the Germans can pay without being reinstated, 
is the work of experts, a long, tedious, trying 
task, that, at best, must be doubtful in the end. 

PROFITEERING. 

In this situation it may seem surprising that 
there are French citizens, who take advantage 
of the hard lines of their country in order to 
make money. It would be very surprising did 
we not know of cases of ''profiteering" in our 
own country, even in the midst of war; but, 
going down to Mondane the other day, I saw 
standing on the tracks many hundreds of 
freight cars, all German, marked Berlin, etc., 
which of course, are in the possession of the 
French, having been delivered to France for 
her use, according to the terms of the armis- 
tice. These cars are all in perfectly good con- 
dition, I hear, and they appear to be, but they 
stand there rusting, while the country clamors 
— 114 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

for freight cars, because it seems, some concern 
or combination is strong enough to prevent 
their use and is forcing the Government to buy 
new ones. 

A similar instance appears in the case of a 
thousand Ford cars, that are standing on the 
docks at Marseilles. I am told that they were 
ordered by the French Government, which, 
after they had arrived, had been paid out of 
custom and been unloaded, cancelled the order, 
and then Mr. Ford offered them, at a price 
greatly reduced, to the public, but they are not 
sold; the people are not allowed to buy them; 
a car very similar to the Ford has appeared on 
the French market ; and the American machines, 
or any other for the matter of that, will not 
be suffered on the market. 

PEOPLE DISiSATISPIED. 

There may be perfectly good reasons for the 
Government permitting such things, sound bus- 
iness and financial reasons, I do not pretend to 
know; but the reasons are not public, while 
the things are public, glaring; and, of course, 
there are many more such cases than just those 
mentioned, all of v^hich is in the way of making 
an already sorely tried people still more dis- 
satisfied. 

And, naturally, however little it may be de- 
served, the criticism and blame for everjrfching 
wrong falls on the head of the Government, 
the French Premier, whose popularity bright- 
ens and fades with each turn of the fortunes 
of France. I am wondering — ^but not I so much 
as those who are deeply, vitally and immediate- 
— 115 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

ly concerned, the patriotic, liberty-loving but 
distressed French people — whether the Clemen- 
ceau Government can possibly come out of the 
Conference without having its colors lashed to 
one or the other horn of the dilemma, that it 
has been powerless to avoid. Only one thing 
seems sure, which is that it is true now as of 
old: ''The French can not eat their cake and 
keep it, too." A Germany, strong enough to 
be still threatening and dangerous, will likely 
make Foch again the man of the hour. A Ger- 
many prostrate and a France disappointed of 
financial restoration and stirring with discon- 
tent may shift the Government into the most 
radical lines ; and the shade of Jaures may come 
forth to grasp the reins of power. 



Countess Turchnowicz's Party. A Knight of 
Columbus Present. 

P?\ ARIS, May 4. — It seems my fortune to 
f-^ meet everything coming in the way of 
*-® strikes. There was a general strike 

while I was in Rome; and last Thurs- 
day, May 1, there was one here. I am begin- 
ning to learn how very inconvenient a "gen- 
eral" strike is, even though it proves no worse. 
Not a thing was working here Thursday — no 
trams, taxis, subways, electric lights, telephone, 
or any other general utility. All shops and de- 
partment stores were closed; and none of the 
daily papers could go to press. Even cafes and 
restaurants of every class and description, in- 
cluding hotel dining rooms, were closed. It was 
pre-arranged, and the public had ample advance 
knowledge in order to prepare for this complete 
collapse of service of all kinds. The evening 
before, the grocery shops, bake shops, and sup- 
ply shops of all kinds of edibles were filled to 
over-flowing with panic-stricken Americans and 
excited French people, every person being as- 
sured that there would be food for all, and in- 
wardly fearing that it would all be gone before 
his turn came. 

RUMOR OF LITTLE REVOLUTION. 

In a way it was somewhat amusing. A rumor 
had been spread that the strike would be the 
occasion of a little French revolution, that 
— 117 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

might last several days; and, with this in mind, 
many persons were preparing everything possi- 
ble. All branches of the American Expedition- 
ary Forces were ordered to keep off the streets 
throughout the day, and private citizens, al 
though not forbidden, were warned it would be 
safer to stay at home, darken their windows 
and barricade their doors. 

JUST HAD TO HAVE A LOOK. 

After I had remained in my room until far 
in the afternoon, not without expecting or at 
least somewhat fearing to hear news of an out- 
break most any minute, I just had to see some- 
thing of what was going on and how these 
strange people act, who, when they declare a 
holiday for themselves, force others to remain 
off the streets and lock themselves in doors. 

I walked down into the lobby (the elevators, 
of course, were not running), and there it was 
almost as dark as night, with no lights burning 
and all the windows tightly covered with iron 
shutters to ward off the expected bullets and 
missiles from the crowd. Only the concierge 
and one bellboy were on duty, both in plain 
clothes, as if they remained for the sake of 
courtesy alone. The concierge was guarding 
the door, and would unlock it and let one pass 
out quickly — if one were that venturesome — 
and hastily lock it again. 

STREETS CROWDED WITH PEOPLE. 

Outside, I found the pavements and streets 
literally crowded with people, with none, how- 
ever, having murderous intent on his face, but 
— -118 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

apparently more concerned in finding some 
pleasure, although doubtless much disappointed 
with the constant downpour of rain that was 
spoiling their holiday. I walked toward the 
Place de la Concorde, but was stopped several 
blocks on this side and told that no one was 
allowed to go farther. There were fifty gen- 
darmes across the Rue de Rivoli blocking fur 
ther progress ; and I cut across and walked up 
through the Boulevard until I reached the Mad- 
eleine, the doors of which, like those of the 
homes, had been sealed for the day. Here was 
the center of activity. On the mammoth por- 
tico of the church and covering all the forty or 
fifty steps leading up to it was a solid mass of 
people, so that there was not left room for one 
more person. And from the steps all the way 
down to the Rue Royale into the Place de la 
Concorde it was as closely packed as if one im- 
mense giant were filling the whole space. 

A TINGE OF "RED." 

There had been a regiment of poilus placed 
at the head of the Royale, but they yielded to 
the pressure and persuasion of the surging and 
jolting crowds and let them break through, 
which brought a tremendous loud cheer and a 
verse of the "Internationale^^ from every one 
for blocks around. The young sewing-sirls es- 
pecially, all wearing long red blouses, were 
having great fun out of the situation. Flower 
venders were everj^where ; there must have been 
one each two feet in the streets, but they had 
nothing to sell except a small artificial red 
flower, especially made for the day. 
— 119 — 



aLIMP8ES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 
U. S. NERVE. 

From the Madeleine I walked a long distance 
around in order to get into the Champs Ely- 
sees, intending to reach the Concorde ; and fin- 
ally, after having been stopped for the hun- 
dredth time, in desperation I pointed to 
a poilu as eommandingly as possible : '^Militaire, 
MilitaireV^ when the soldiers parted, and we 
hurried down the Champs into the forbidden 
Place. 

Here there was a whole regiment of French 
calvary holding back the crowd in Rue Royale, 
which, although not displaying any ill-nature, 
was deeply stirred and excited. For a moment 
I looked up at the great Madeleine; and its 
imposing dignity seemed to give off such an im- 
pressive calmness that I imagined it was main- 
taining the sanity and equilibrium of the 
swarming masses in the streets below. After 
talking to the Provost Marshal for a few min- 
utes, who intimated there would be a cavalry 
charge in a short time unless the crowd dis- 
persed, I returned to the hotel. 

The doors were locked, but the concierge 
recognized me, and I was allowed to enter. Lit- 
tle alcohol stoves, provided beforehand, were 
burning in each room ; and the odors of coffee, 
chocolate and burnt bread were drifting 
through the corridors, while people were speak- 
ing in hushed whispers about the terrific 
strength of labor, when it was able to do such 
things as took place that day. 
"A SITUATION. 

It occurred to me that these children-like 
— 120 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

crowds in the streets did not near so much ap- 
preciate their strength as my whispering anx- 
ious friends. But I could not help but think 
that there is a ''situation" here, that must soon- 
er or later come to a climax. And I would much 
prefer being some other place when it comes. 

OOUNTBSS TUROHNOW'ICSZ'S PARTY. 

I must tell you something of my interview 
with Countess Turchnowicz of Lithuania, 
whose book, ^^When the Prussians Game to 
Poland, ' ' was so popular at home last year. It 
was only by chance that I heard she was in 
Paris, stopping at the Petrograd Hotel (a Y. 
W. C. A. Hostess House) ; but, when I called 
to see her I was directed to a private home, 
where I found her in the midst of a dinner party 
of eight or ten persons, whose chief interest in 
Paris, if not in life, is their country, Lithuania, 
about which they seemed very glad to talk. 
One of them is the Lithuanian Prime Minister, 
Augustin Voldemar. Another, Martynas 
Ytchas, is the Lithuanian delegate to the Peace 
Conference. The former once held a chair in 
the University of Petrograd, is quite a scholar, 
and speaks seventeen languages fluently. The 
latter was Minister of Education under Keren- 
sky, and a member of the old Russian Dumas. 
He was held in prison for four months by the 
Bolsheviki, and told me that he himself had 
seen the original * ' Sisson Papers. ' ' 

A KNIGHT OP COLUMBUS PRESENT. 

Among others present was B. F. Mostowski 
from Detroit, a Knight of Columbus. He was 
— 121 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

in the service over here, doing propaganda 
work for Mr. Creel. The famous Princess Rad- 
ziwill and her husband were also there. An- 
other American was R. J. Caldwell from New 
York, a special United States Industrial Com- 
missioner. Countess Turchnowicz herself is an 
American by birth and only a Lithuanian by 
marriage. She is National Commissioner of 
Charities for Lithuania, and has just returned 
from the United States, where she made an ex- 
tensive tour, but unfortunately, so a rumor 
runs, before sailing for this side, she apparently 
connected herself with some persons whose loy- 
alty is perhaps not above reproach. 

LITHUANIA AND THE POLES. 

Lithuania is almost wholly a Catholic coun- 
try, and next to Belgium, perhaps, suffered 
most severely during the war, as, like Belgium, 
it was the broken and prostrate buffer between 
two great enemy powers. The Poles want this 
State to be a part of their country, but the 
Lithuanians desire absolute freedom, and if 
they cannot have this they frankly confess 
they would rather be attached to Russia or 
Germany than to be a part of a small new State 
like Poland. This creates a rather difficult 
problem like, perhaps, a hundred other prob- 
lems, with which the conference has to deal, 
and in approaching which they encounter many 
cross currents of opinion and more or less vital 
and conflicting interests. 

The Countess Turchnowicz left Paris the next 
evening after the party, being apparently rath- 
er nervous at the station where I saw her again. 
— 122 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

She was planning to go by way of Germany, 
and, having had so many experiences with those 
people during the time she was held a prisoner 
by them and while they occupied her house in 
Poland, she felt a certain uneasiness in con- 
fronting them in their own country, and kept 
remarking that she feared she would never re- 
turn. 



Will Congress Accept the Trust Recommended 
by the President? 

T^ ARIS, May 10.— Now I must write you 
1^ something about Armenia, which, we 
^'^ are told on all hands, will be hence- 

forth, for a long time at least, gov- 
erned by the mandate of America, if the Ameri- 
can Congress shall ratify the agreement, that, 
it is understood here, has been made among 
the Powers. Of course, nothing has been given 
out officially to this effect, but there seems 
scarcely any doubt — and I imagine it is quite 
well settled — that President Wilson will ask 
Congress to accept the mandate of this ancient 
country of the near Bast, whose name has be- 
come a synonym for martyrdom. 

WANTS U. S. AjS mandatory. 

The Armenian representatives have no hesi- 
tancy in expressing their wish to be under the 
mandatory of the United States. They realize 
that their country will not be strong enough 
for a long time to stand on her own feet; and 
they have no desire for a combined internation- 
al control, as experience, they say, has shown it 
to be too cumbersome, too slow, altogether too 
unwieldy, to admit of national progress. It is 
very clear to them that among the Powers, 
which are able to stand sponsor for their coun- 
— 124 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

try while she is developing strength, the one 
least likely to be tempted to take advantage of 
this position is America, because, apart from 
her disinterested motives in the late war, she is 
not bound by any traditional colonial policy or 
hampered by any other near East interest, all 
of which, I am told, makes her most acceptable 
as The Big Brother of the little Armenian na- 
tion. 

BOGHOS NUBAR PASHA. 

This view is expressed in a recently published 
article authorized by Boghos Nubar Pasha, son 
of the famous Nubar Pasha, Prime Minister of 
Egypt, whom Lord Milner paid a very high 
tribute for his country. The younger Nubar 
Pasha is President of the Armenian delegation 
and the recognized leader of the Armenian peo- 
ple, being supported, it is said, by all Armenian 
parties. It is his idea that, while a provisional 
suzerainty is necessary for the protection of 
his country, it will only be a few years until 
the New Armenia will be capable of self-gov- 
ernment and self-defense as well; and he is 
very careful on all occasions to emphasize the 
opinion that the provisional government will 
recognize from the very first the principle of 
local administration. While he realizes that, 
perhaps, the local officers would have to be 
nominated at first, he thinks they could be 
succeeded almost at once by officers duly elect- 
ed. 

BOUNDARIES OF NEW STATE. 

It is very difficult for one to appreciate, even 
after study, the exact boundaries of the pro- 
—-125 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

posed New Armenia, because they are not nat- 
ural boundaries in all respects, but, as nearly 
as I can describe it, the new State will extend 
on the East considerably beyond the old Rus- 
sian boundary into Caucasia, to the frontier of 
Georgia — famous as the country of the most 
beautiful women in the world — and on the 
South by the Tartar lines, and on the West to 
meet the Arabs, — lines that are said to be rather 
clear as to nationality and not likely to involve 
any serious dispute. On the North the 
boundary would be the Black Sea. 

These boundaries include about one hundred 
and twenty thousand square miles, in which be- 
tween two and a half and three million people 
live. The land is said to be very rich and fer- 
tile, and the people unusually industrious for 
Eastern people, chief reasons perhaps for their 
being able to survive the policy of extermina- 
tion for so many years followed in Turkey. 

Religiously, the population is almost wholly 
Non-Uniate Greek, dependent on Constantino- 
ple, with about sixty thousand Catholic, and 
perhaps half as many Protestant. 

UNFORTUNATE POSITION. 

Nubar Pasha compares the position of Arme- 
nia in the war with that of Belgium, a large 
portion of it being in a sense the prostrate 
buffer between Russia and Turkey. But even 
before the war, he says, "Armenia's crime was 
that she lay between the Turks of Europe and 
their Tartar kinsmen of the Caucasus and Cen- 
tral Asia ; her existence was incompatible with 
Pan-Turanianism. ' ' 

— 126 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

''The Armenians' moral claim to independ- 
ence," he adds, '4s indisputable; the only ar- 
gument against it is that the Ottoman policy 
of extermination has been so thorough, that 
there are not enough Armenians left to form the 
nucleus of a population— an argument for the 
murder of small civilized nations to admit the 
survival of imperialism. ' ' 

"Apart from its iniquity," he concludes, 
''this policy of extirpation has been a species 
of economic suicide, for it has killed the seeds 
of productivity. Fertile lands lie sterile under 
the dead hand of the Turk, whereas the Arme- 
nians are among the most practical, intelligent, 
industrious, and prolific races of the East. 
Each one of these qualities has been a count in 
the Turk 's indictment of them ; but whether in 
the character of civilizing agents, or as the seed 
of material regeneration, they are the only pos- 
sible inheritors of the soil which is historically 
their own." 

"In a few months the New Araienia should 
be a reality. The lifting of the dreadful sha- 
dow, in which the country has been shrouded, is 
the greatset service that the war has done for 
civilization in the East. Full reparation is im- 
possible, but the liberation of a people, whose 
name has become synonymous with martyrdom, 
and who have long been threatened with ex- 
tinction, will have been achieved. The extra- 
ordinary endurance of the Armenians under 
persecution, their faithfulness to their nation- 
ality and religion, is a certain pledge of the fu- 
ture solidarity of the race." 
— 127 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

HOW WILL CONaRESS AjCT? 

It will be very interesting to see how our 
Congress will receive the recommendation of 
Mr. Wilson to accept the mandate over this 
people, if that be his recommendation. Some 
here are wondering, too, whether or not this 
mandate will be coupled with that over Con- 
stantinople also, which presents a largely differ- 
ent aspect of the situation, as the Constantino- 
ple mandate, it is said, would be with a view to 
permanency and more open to the objection 
that it was being accepted in order to preserve 
the balance of power in Europe rather than for 
the purpose of tutoring the people in the views 
of self-government. 

Those who speak in behalf of Armenia alone 
tell me that they would much prefer that the 
mandate over them should go before our Con- 
gress detached from any other possible man- 
dates, that the United States might be asked 
to accept, as in this way only can their ultimate 
aspiration and our traditional policy be worked 
out in harmony and without suspicion or fear. 



The Sad and Horrible Waste of the World War 

P^ ARIS, May 15. — I have just visited the 
w^ grave of Joyce Kilmer, the first Amer- 
-*-* ican man-of-letters to make the su- 

preme sacrifice at the front in this 
war. We motored over from Chateau Thierry 
to the place where he lies, through the most 
beautiful country that I felt I had ever seen, 
— great rolling hills and wide, deep valleys 
stretched out in view as far as one could see. 

The constant rains of the early Spring had 
ceased, and the whole country side was rich 
and green, with that wet, fresh green that is so 
invigorating and delightful. Lilac trees were 
everywhere in bloom, wafting their sweet frag- 
rance into the air ; and by the roadside through 
the valleys ran the murmuring waters of that 
never-to-be-forgotten stream, the quiet, little 
Marne. 

Amidst these pleasant surroundings one 
might think there had never been a war. 

A LITTLE AMERrCAN GRAVEYARD. 

We passed through Fere-en-Tardenois, which 
had been shelled so severely and so repeatedly 
that it was long since only a heap of stone. 
From here on to the village of Seringes, which, 
too, is demolished and desolate. Right on the 
edge of this deserted village there is a little 
American graveyard, where are buried six hun- 
dred of our sturdy, brave boys, who gave their 
— 129 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE OONFBRENGB 

lives in the war. And among them is — Joyce 
Kilmer. 

This little cemetery is marked off by a low, 
rustic fence, with a short steeple gate, and a 
small wooden cross on the top. At the head of 
each grave is a cross, on which there is a small 
plate telling the name, date and place of death, 
if these are known. Many a cross that I passed, 
however, sent a tremor into my heart, as the 
tragic-sad inscription, "American Unknown," 
greeted my tear-dimmed eyes. 

BESIDE THE CROSS THE FLAG. 

Beside each cross at the head of the little 
mounds in this hallowed spot stood a small 
American flag. They were furled and quiet^ 
unmoved by a breath of air — six hundred silent 
•sentinels they seemed; six hundred guards of 
honor for America 's valiant dead ! 

On the left side as one enters is Joyce Kil- 
mer's grave. I stood before it and read over 
and over again many times : 



Tvt. Joyce Kilmer, IGSth Inf. 
Killed in Action 
July 30, 1918." 



REMINISCENCE. 

It seemed incredible! How often had I 
heard him lecture at my school, enjoyed his 
keen sense of humor, wondered at his alert and 
ready energy ! His fresh outlook on the world, 
his enthusiasm and good-will made him seem so 
young that his life should be only beginning; 
— 130 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

and here he lies ! But, too, I had heard him in 
moments of indignation, when he was outspo- 
ken and frankly set against the Germans, es- 
pecially the time the Lusitania was sunk, when 
he wrote what is perhaps one of his most impas- 
sioned poems, "The Red and the White Ships.'' 
And when I recall his wrought, intense feeling, 
stirred hy the wanton destruction of things 
civilized and human, I know he must have died, 
feeling a deep satisfaction that he was a part of 
the struggle for better things and was given 
an opportunity to make the supreme sacrifice 
in a just and noble cause. 

I could not help but think what a terrible 
price must be paid in order to make this old 
world of ours a fit place to live ; and, after all, 
at best, at the very best, it is only a fit place 
to die. I smothered a half sob, and turned to 
look across the road where my glance fell on 
a beautiful grove of slender pine trees, and 
again, as once before at Belleau Woods, and 
often when I see tall trees lifting their arms 
toward Heaven, as it were, those exquisite lines 
of Kilmer's run back and forth through my 
mind: 

"I think that I shall never see, 
A poem lovely as a tree, 

For poems are made by fools like me, 
But only God can make a tree." 

AT REST. 

Hills! valleys! trees! sunshine! and, except 
for the distant chirpings of little birds, a calm, 
— 131 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

as serene and unruffled as the sleep of death! 
it seemed a spot that Kilmer himself might 
have sought out for quiet, reflection, and rest. 



Havoc of War at Chateau Thierry, Soissons, 
and Rheims. 

]^\ ARIS, May 23. — I have just completed 
pi' one of the most interesting of my side 
A-s trips over here. We left Paris Friday 

night, May 9, at 8:00 o'clock on a 
Metz special, which was overcrowded with offi- 
cers and secretaries, returning to the Army of 
Occupation Headquarters. Arriving at the sta- 
tion, some minutes before the time for depar- 
ture, we secured comfortable positions, al- 
though we were compelled to stand, which, 
however, did not seem so forbidding in the 
prospect of the journey occupying only two 
hours ; but, after we had waited many minutes 
beyond the leaving schedule, we still were in 
the station — where we remained for exactly two 
hours before starting — thus having experienced 
all the discomfort of the journey without hav- 
ing taken it, which shows that, after all, there 
are certain kinds of French cake, of which 
one can eat and keep it too. 

MISHAPS OF JOURNEY. 

We were scarcely well out of Paris, when we 
had the misfortune of having two trucks to 
run off the track. This time we knew it would 
be a long wait; and everyone got out on the 
platform for a bit of air, to pass time, and 
— 133 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

keep from thinking of the increasing delays. 
We opened our improvised canteen, all sup- 
plied with K. C. goodies, which we never start 
anyAvhere without taking a supply of, and dis- 
tributed chocolate and cigarettes, to find our- 
selves very popular in consequence, as Ameri- 
can cigarettes are the open sesame to the most 
excellent service anywhere in France. 

When we finally again started, it was one 
o'clock, and all of the fortunate seat holders 
were curled up for the night. Being yet some 
miles from Chateau Thierry, our first destina- 
tion, we decided that some sort of seating ac- 
commodations would be acceptable, if not in- 
deed advisable ; and, just as the train was mov- 
ing, some American soldiers, who are always 
willing to be obliging, scampered about until 
they rummaged up a long board and several 
stones and tin cans, which we quickly con- 
verted into a very comfortable bench, on which 
we sat, asleep and awake — about half and half 
— ^until four o 'clock, when a sleepy French con- 
ductor walked through the train, and an- 
nounced Chateau Thierry. 

CHATEAU THIERRY. 

There was not a light in the village, and one 
could almost cut the darkness, so that none 
knew where to turn. I had a rather vague 
sense of the general direction from previous 
trips, and we started that way, stumbling over 
the ruins of chateaus and through what were 
once bake shops, until we succeeded in reach- 
ing the ''hotel," an improvised place of six or 
eight rooms, where the manager could offer us 
— 134 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

only his "lobby," as all the rooms were occu- 
pied ; and so there we sat in a drooping circle 
around one pale little candle until morning. 
We had early dejeuner, and immediately de- 
parted for Soissons, very soon reaching the sec- 
tions that showed obvious signs of the grim 
struggles that had there taken place. 

The roads were lined on both sides with hun- 
dreds and thousands of yet unused shell. Ever 
and anon, the graves of men, who had fallen in 
solitary tragedy at intermittent spaces along 
the roadside and through the still uncultivated 
fields, jerked one up with a sad thought. The 
earth was torn with shell holes, and unexplod- 
ed shell could be seen through the fields every 
place I looked. We passed on through numbers 
of small towns, all literally razed to the ground, 
and not a living being about anywhere. The 
only thing that could be seen standing up, was 
here and there a part of one wall of a ruined 
building. It all seemed so pitiful! But it was 
nothing, as we very quickly realized upon 
reaching Soissons. 

SOISSONS. 

Tragic ! desolate ! hideous ! is Soissons. At 
the first glance one wishes to weep; another 
look, and one can not weep. All the stories 
I had learned, all the reading, all the pictures 
— even the sight of other battle grounds — had 
not prepared me for Soissons — a complete and 
utter wreckage! Grim, graduated and sweep- 
ing, as if a mighty horde of giants had tram- 
pled down some city built of egg shells. 

In Paris I have seen mourning, but here I 
— 135 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

saw the unapproachable pathos of those pover- 
ty-stricken refugees, who have lost their all. 
That night I sat in a room with two old French 
women. One told me of her two sons and her 
husband, all lost in the war. It was late, lin- 
gering twilight, and she beckoned me to the 
window looking over the distant mountain, 
where was the burial place of her beloved. Great 
tears came to her eyes, but she quickly brushed 
them away and smiled. The other dear old 
French lady was there searching for her only 
son's grave. She was willing, though his fa- 
ther had gone before, that he should die for 
France, but she longed for the consolation of 
knowing where he lay. 

The intense silence of Soissons seems its most 
terrible aspect. It is oppressive, suffocating! 
And to think that before the war here was a 
city of forty thousand inhabitants, now literally 
deserted. The faint chirping of birds and the 
beautiful blooming lilac trees seem a bitter 
mockery in that atmosphere. I saw perhaps 
a dozen people in the street, a few children, 
and they, too, were silent, and^ seemed fifty 
years old. Oh, it is all so terrible ! 

Sunday morning we attended 6:30 o'clock 
Mass in the small sacristy in the rear of the 
old Cathedral, which is no longer standing. 
On a table, near the side wall in the sacristy, 
were several small statues and many vestments 
— all that was saved from the ruins of the once 
beautiful and century-old church. A priest in 
French uniform said Mass. And there, in that 
little improvised chapel, crudely arranged, set 
up after the most terrible of wars, we heard 
— 136 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

the same old prayers ; and the thought occurred 
to me how nothing on earth was ever able to 
shake the balance of the Church. 

CHEOMIN-DES-DAMES. 

The same morning we started for Chemin- 
des-Dames. This country is a night-mare. 
Here are the battlefields where the Germans 
and the Allies fought in taking and re-taking 
Soissons. The same lines and trenches run on 
and on to the fields around Rheims, and up into 
the sector that marked the St. Mihiel salient. 
Here are the trenches and dug-outs of the fa- 
mous Hindenburg line. It all seems a mur- 
dered earth ! Torn and shredded and whipped 
with an interminable series of shell holes, that 
would hide a horse and a man; and not one 
thing green anywhere in sight ! The trees are 
blown down and scattered over the fields, or 
else stand in writhed and twisted shapes, all 
black and dead. Through trenches, over wire 
entanglements, in mud ankle-deep, we came to 
the headquarter 's dug-out in the Von Hin- 
denburg trenches. Here was really a thing of 
comfort and almost of luxury. There were 
rocking chairs and tables, shelves around the 
walls, where books had stood, and the whole 
place wired with electric lights ! Fancy ! 

RHEIMS. 

Later in the afternoon we reached Rheims 
after a slow train journey, for, when the Ger- 
mans occupied this territory, they placed ex- 
plosives under each section of the rails; and, 
when they were forced to evacuate, they blew 
— 137 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

them up, and the rails lay along the roads all 
twisted like hair pins, which makes transpor- 
tation very slow. 

The devastation and destruction of Rheims 
is, perhaps, even worse than that of Soissons, 
but the spirit of the place is so greatly differ- 
ent, that one finds one's self interested quite 
as much as saddened, for one sees living beings 
about; and there is already an awakened spir- 
it and an appearance of enterprise. Before the 
war there were forty thousand houses in 
Rheims, of which five escaped shell fire. Thir- 
teen thousand were razed level with the 
ground ; and I do not know how many thousand 
more were there with only the walls left stand- 
ing. 

THE CATHEDRAL. 

The Cathedral stands as a tragic queen, while 
making brave efforts to uphold those exqui- 
sitely wrought pinnacles. Even as I stood, I 
could hear the boom of great pieces falling in- 
side. The glass of the famous Rose Window 
was removed and preserved, but what is that 
when one sees the ruination of this magnificent 
Gothic temple as a whole! And yet it is not 
destroyed. It is desecrated, torn and wound- 
ed in all its parts; but still it stands as if it 
might be symbolic of the Church, that has 
stood and suffered with her children in France. 

It was night, and a full moon shed its silvery 
sheen over the open square, which made the 
wreckage even more vivid than in the day. I 
looked at the great twin towers, rising in the 
beautiful moonlight, which magnified them, it 
seemed, in its shimmering gleam, and thought 
— 138 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFEREIfCE 

of that day when the Germans sent ten thou- 
sand shell into the city between the dawns, 
and how this terrible deluge continued, day 
after day, for four long years. And still this 
proud Gothic frame pushes its steeples into 
the skies; and it seemed a verification of the 
truth, ''The Gates of Hell shall not prevail 
against her." 

"THERE MUST BE NO MORE WAR." 

Curiously, I myself felt no burning hatred 
against an enemy ; and with the people of these 
districts you hear little railing against an ene- 
my. It is all an example of war; and that is 
what I felt bitter against ; that is the great plea 
from all those real sufferers: ''There must be 
no more war." 



How Germans and Americans Peel Toward 
Each Other. Trier Relics. 

L^ OUISVILLE, KY.,July 7.— It was a sur- 
i prising delight to me to return home 
■ after my several months abroad; — to 
see the prosperous condition of my 
own dear Country, after witnessing the almost 
universal distress that prevailed ^'over there"; 
— to be once more with a contented and natur- 
ally cheerful people, after so long in surround- 
ings where everything wears the aspect of 
anxiety only tempered by a gaiety that is 
plainly forced. 

Of course, things abroad will all change very 
quickly, now that the treaty is signed and 
peace is no longer in doubt ; and I can imagine 
that even the German people must feel a great 
sense of satisfaction at the end, even though 
it is a severe thing for them. 

AMERICAN SECTOR OP OCCUPATION. 

My last short trip before leaving Paris was 
up into Germany, through the American Sector 
of Occupation. Naturally, I was deeply inter- 
ested in seeing the occupation troops, and the 
manner in which they were being received, and 
the way they treated the population. I was,, 
perhaps, even more bent on seeing the K. C. act- 
ivities in that vicinity, for, according to all 
reports in Paris, they were remarkably flourish- 
ing. And I was very much gratified in both 
eases. 

— 140 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 



SHORT STOP AT METZ. 

It was quite an all day's trip to Coblenz, — 
from 8:00 in the morning to midnight, with a 
brief intermission at Metz along about 2:00 
o'clock, which waS very welvome. While we 
had no opportunity to see much of the city 
on this trip, Metz holds an interest for the 
tourist for two principal reasons: first, the 
radiantly happy population, that has been freed 
from the yoke of Germany; and second, — and 
most interesting of all to the traveler, who had 
been used to the sky-scrapping prices else- 
where — all expenses automatically discontin- 
ued from Metz and through the occupied re- 
gion. There is no railroad fare ; rooms I had 
without once hearing of a bill; and the meals 
served in the different officers' mess are as 
free as they are bountiful. It all seemed like 
a holiday excursion, and the troops take such 
a joy in all this dictatorship, that it is really 
delightful. 

COBLENZ. 

Coblenz is a most beautiful little city, sit- 
uated where the Rhine and Moselle Rivers meet. 
The far-stretching green hills and cultivated 
fields make it seem rather strange how this 
could be the land of a defeated and vanquished 
people, after all I had seen of the devastation 
and ruin of France the Victorious. 

The K. C. Clubs were nothing less than the 
reports had made them out, — splendid success- 
es. The largest one was the Town Club for 
soldiers; and here every desk was constantly 
being used, while crowds were being served 
— 141 — 



GLIMPSES OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

with food at all hours. Those delicious dough- 
nuts, that have, I believe, become famous and 
certainly are the most popular refreshment 
among the doughboys, are made by the K. of C, 
the doughnut factory being their enterprise. 
This furnishes all the other welfare organiza- 
tions with hot doughnuts every day. 

Another K. C. Club is the OHicers', where 
well appointed rooms are furnished, which has 
made the club very popular among the officers. 
Across the river there is a very old fort, now 
being occupied by our troops; and here, too, 
the K. C. has a large room, which it uses as a 
club. It was very gratifying to hear the good 
repute in which our K. C. service in this 
Sector was held, and to witness it verified my- 
self. 

HOW THEY FEEL. 

In the midst of my rounds, I found myself 
frequently trying to fathom the real feelings of 
the Germans toward our men, and also that of 
our men toward the civil population, but it 
was very difficult. Some of our men are ex- 
ceedingly complimentary in their report of the 
courtesies and good treatment they have re- 
ceived from the people in the occupied Sectors, 
while, perhaps, an equal number, on the other 
hand, reveal a more bitter dislike of the enemy 
than they had before. As for the Germans — I 
mean the German people — if they do not really 
feel kindly toward us, they make a very good 
pretense by the good treatment they seem to 
wish at all times to give. Perhaps, it is a meth- 
od of propaganda, but if so, it has reached al- 
— 142 — 



OLIMPSBS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 

most every German citizen and it has done 
them good. 

TRIER AND ITS RELICS. 

After two days in Coblenz, I went on to Trier, 
which the French call Treves, and which is 
one of the oldest cities in the world. The old 
Roman walls and gates built by Constantine 
and the greater part of the palace that he built 
here for himself are standing quite intact. 
Scattered over the city are a number of old 
Roman baths; and the whole place seems per- 
meated with the atmosphere of past ages. The 
religious relies here are the most interesting 
things to be seen. At St. Timothy Church, 
outside the walls of the city, is the largest piece 
of the True Cross in existence. There were also 
the relics of every Saint of whom I had ever 
heard, and many more. Although historically 
more interesting. Trier lacks the buoyancy, 
life and enthusiasm that one sees in Coblenz. 

While I had to hurry back to Paris in order 
to make final arrangements for leaving, as I 
had secured passage for America on the 30th 
of May, I could not leave France without see- 
ing the Argonne Forest, the place where the 
name of the Yank was made immortal. Ver- 
dun, too, I saw — n sad, desolate city. Of these 
I shall write anon. 



THE CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION OP 

THE UNITED STATES AND 

CANADA. 

Miss Edith Callahan 
% Col. P. H. Callahan, 
14th and Maple Streets, 
Louisville, Ky. 

Dear Miss Callahan : — 

It is my duty and happy privilege as Secre- 
tary of ''The Catholic Press Association of the 
United States and Canada," to inform you that 
at our Convention held in Washington, D, C, 
January 23-24, 1920, after a vote of thanks had 
been given to your esteemed father, the Con- 
vention by resolution ordered its Secretary to 
write a letter of thanks to Miss Edith Callahan 
in recognition of her services as special Euro- 
pean correspondent of the Catholic Press Asso- 
ciation, and of her efficient work in France. 

The simple record of the duty imposed on me 
will better instruct your intuition as to the un- 
derlying cordiality and appreciation which 
prompted this resolution and unanimous action 
on the part of the Convention, than could any 
more elaborate attempt of a scribe with his pen. 

In behalf of the Convention 's cordial esteem 
for yourself and your services I therefore most 
respectfully subscribe myself 

J. A. M. RIGHEY, 



Catholic Press Association of 
The United States and Canada. 



Secretary, 



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